


Marshmallow Girl

by Notquitegreylo



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Alternate Universe - College/University, And Now We Slow-ish Burn, And That's How We Like Him, But We're Gonna Start Slow-ish, Ever So Slight Amount of Angst, Excessive Marshmallow References, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Masturbation, Masturbation in Shower, Mostly of the Sexual Nature, Mutual Pining, No Pregnancy, Oh good that's already a tag, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Penis In Vagina Sex, Professor Ben Solo, Proportional Ben Solo, Rose is the Best Kind of Friend, Scent Kink, Smut, Snoke Being a Dick (Star Wars), TA Ben Solo, That Sweatshirt Has Really Been Through It, That sweatshirt is still going through it, The General Leia being Leia, The sweatshirt belongs to Rey Now, Uncle Luke Being...Well Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27464845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notquitegreylo/pseuds/Notquitegreylo
Summary: Coerced TA, Ben Solo, must find a way to validate the famed Marshmallow Study from decades ago. His doctorate is riding on it. Meanwhile, he's got the hots for one of his coeds, Rey Jackson. She thinks he's statistically pretty amazing, himself.  Shenanigans abound. Marshmallows are definitely involved.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 244
Kudos: 169





	1. Validation

**Author's Note:**

> This fluffy little idea popped into my head and would not go away. It's based on the famous Stanford Marshmallow Experiment used to measure delayed gratification in kids in the 1960's. But I'm taking creative liberties with the timeline so we can REYLO this marshmallow goodness. If you'd like to learn more about the actual study/experiment, click [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment).
> 
> Thanks to Cat and [ MyJediLife ](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/MyJediLife/pseuds/MyJediLife) for the Beta brilliance.

If he has to watch one more second of video footage of children shoving marshmallows into their mouths, he’s going to hurl. And maybe he’ll purposefully aim it at Snoke’s desk and “accidentally miss a spot” when cleaning it up. That might give him a small measure of comfort. It'll certainly play into his ongoing revenge fantasy. 

All of his viewing has amounted to nothing more than further confirmation that he doesn’t want to have to validate this stupid study. It had too many flaws to begin with. Every social scientist worth their salt knows that already. 

Why Snoke has him trying to find any thread he can pull on to confirm it is beyond him. Well, it’s not entirely beyond him. Snoke has made it clear that if Ben can’t do what Snoke wants him to, _“any way you have to, Benjamin” -_ he can kiss his Ph.D. hopes goodbye.

What isn’t beyond him is his desire to be done with this asinine project so that he can move on to a study he actually _wants_ to be working on. 

With a deep sigh more befitting an eighty-year-old man than a 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate, he leans forward to press play on the DVD player. At least this study was on a DVD. Some of them were only on VHS, and he had to figure out how to untangle them whenever the tape got twisted. 

Snoke had handed him the stack of DVD's and VHS tapes and wished him good luck with a pompous smirk and a raised middle finger. 

No, no - not really with a middle finger. That little addition Ben added to go along with the running mental image he carries of his evil advisor. 

Gods! He can’t wait to be rid of the pain in the ass that is Snoke.

Hoping there will be some miraculous breakthrough footage that he’s missed the first dozen watch-throughs, he gets back to combing through the DVD's for something useful to save his ass.

Only as his head slumps forward and hits the desk in front of him with a loud thwack, does Ben realize he fell asleep while watching. 

“Fuck!” he shouts.

  
  


Ben reels back from the harsh reality of hard wood connecting with soft flesh and rubs his forehead. Great. Now he needs to go get some ice, or it’s going to look like he got into a fight. And lost.

Opening the door to the office he shares with Snoke, he steps outside and realizes he forgot to grab the keys. Like anyone’s going to want to come in and steal old video recordings of kids from the ’60s shoving marshmallows into their mouths hand over fist, but Snoke can be such a dick about things.

Grabbing the keys, he locks the door and strides down the hall to grab ice from the lounge.

Making quick work of putting a few cubes of ice into a napkin, he holds it to his head for a moment to ease the throbbing there. As his mind works over the last video footage he was viewing, it snags on one of the kids from the 2003 experiment.

She shouldn’t have stood out. But she did. Eager, forlorn almost, she eyed the marshmallows with more desperation than any of the other kids had. She just seemed so...needy? Almost like if she didn’t get those marshmallows into her mouth right that minute, they’d disappear before her very eyes, and that she would be deprived of her only meal.

No one would ever call Ben Solo charitable. He barely tolerates others and keeps a scowl permanently affixed to his face to deter anyone from approaching him. He hasn’t got the time or interest to get to know anyone else. He’s got enough on his plate trying to figure out how to validate the invalid. 

His mind veers back to the marshmallow girl, though. Anytime she pops into his mind, the longing to find her and buy her a hundred bags of marshmallows bubbles up. It’s a ridiculous thought because she’d be an adult by now and living gods-knows-where.

What would he even say if he ever found her, anyway? “ _Hi. I’m the weirdo who was tasked with watching you stuff your little mouth with puffy marshmallows and you pulled at my heartstrings and well, here’s a lifetime supply of them.”_

Not sure why he was fixating on this one kid again, he mentally shook himself from the visual and turned to find Snoke walking in. Shit! This week couldn’t get any worse.

“What are you doing in here, son, when you should be viewing videos?” he asked Ben, with more than a hint of displeasure in his voice.

Ben hated it when Snoke called him son. He’s long suspected he does it on purpose just to further irritate him.

It works.

Every time.

“I dropped something on the floor and miscalculated the distance from the desk to my fore…” Ben starts to explain.

Snoke cuts him off. “Instead of dithering on about your inability to control your body in space, I think you should get back to what needs finishing, don’t you?”

Rolling his lips between his teeth to keep himself from saying something he most definitely should not to his advisor and one-time mentor, he nods instead.

Snoke turns to leave the room without actually retrieving anything from it, leaving Ben to wonder if he hadn’t followed him in here on purpose. 

  
Yeah, this week was going great, he thought.

  
  


****

Walking down the hallway of her advisor’s building, Rey’s phone dings, alerting her to an incoming text message. It’s yet another one from Finn, begging her to “please, pretty please for _everyone’s_ benefit,” reconsider letting him and Poe set her up on a date. 

Maybe she should take them up on the offer. 

Because it’s been a minute. 

And her body is clearly telling her what her head keeps trying to deny.

She needs to get laid.

No one needs to know that she agrees, but that she prefers it be with her mountain-of-a-man Statistics TA.

She sighs and types out a quick, “FINE!”, as she reminds herself her body needs this. Her vibrator is literally begging her to replace it with an actual human dick.

Head still down as she finishes with an eggplant emoji, she rounds the corner and runs smack into a… wall? Colliding with a brick wall certainly wasn’t what she was expecting as she turned the corner. _What the hell is a brick wall doing in the middle of a college hallway?_ she thinks as her phone flies out of her hand.

“Excuse YOU!” says the brick wall. 

Too angry to realize the source of the voice, she responds in kind. “Excuse the fuck out of YOU!”

She looks up. And up. And … oh no! No, no no no. This can’t be happening.

The depth of his voice registers at the same moment the height of his stature does. Her brain short-circuits as she forgets that she’s pissed at this brick shithouse of a human who just collided with her.

Ben recognizes her voice before his eyes ever connect with hers. 

“Fuck!” bursts out of him before he can pull it back.

As soon as the shouted curse hits her ears, a shiver runs down her spine. Against her rational mind, her hindbrain instantly visualizes hearing that word come out of his mouth while doing something else. With her. Without clothes.

Yeah, she needs to get some. And soon.

Ben is just gaping at her, unable to form a more coherent response. But, damn! Her eyes are gorgeous. Hazel? No, almost emerald with the barest hint of caramel around the edges.

They each stop short to take the other in.

“I’m sorry,” they both say in unison.

Chuckling out loud, Ben tries again. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention...”

Rey cuts him off as she notices the wrapped ice in the hand that has now fallen to his side, and the sizable goose egg on his forehead. “Mr. Solo! You’re hurt!”

Well, that’s twice today that someone has cut him off mid-sentence. Only this time, he finds that he doesn’t mind one bit. 

Her calling him Mr. Solo brings him crashing back down to earth as he remembers that she’s a student in the class Snoke insisted he be a teaching assistant for.

“Ben. It’s, uh, just Ben. And, it’s nothing. I, uh… got into a fight with my desk and lost.”

She laughs heartily at this. And suddenly, he wants nothing more than to hear her do that again. Among other things. Because her eyes! They draw him right back and he’s a little lost in them at the moment. _And why do they seem so damn familiar?_

Maybe he hit his head harder than he thought. He shakes it a bit to clear to lust-fog away and spies her phone laying up against the far wall. It looks like the screen might be cracked. And, of course, it’s his fault. 

Yeah, this week could apparently get worse.

“Kriff! Your phone... I’ll buy you a new one,” he blurts out as he scoops it up from the glossy granite floor that it so violently connected with. _Fuck! Why did he say that?_

She reaches out to take it from his hand. His obscenely large hand. Oh, gods! She really really does need a good dicking down.

Handing it to her, he notes how small her hands are compared to his. And now, his lizard brain has blanked out thinking about how they would look wrapped around his dick. 

Rey cuts into that thought with a vehement,“NO! I mean, thank you. But no need. The screen was already cracked.” 

And, the model from 4 years ago. And second-hand. And the kind of phone you have given to you by your best friend’s boyfriend out of pity because you can’t afford to buy yourself your own phone. But he didn’t need to know any of that.

Feeling every bit the sick bastard his prior thought makes him, he looks down at the phone to give his eyes somewhere to go other than her face, which keeps making his head feel fuzzy. 

The text conversation catches his eye. He tries not to read it. Really, he does. But he briefly sees a text bubble with the words “... blind date” and then Rey’s picture next to her response of “FINE!”.

Cheeks becoming tomato-colored quicker than she can help it, she tilts her face up and utters a quick, “Thanks.” before swiping up on the screen to clear the texts off his line of sight.

“Um, yeah, it’s no problem. I’m really sorry about your phone.” he offers again.

“No worries. Really Ben. But thanks for the offer,” she utters.

Standing in front of each other awkwardly, they both shuffle their feet and look off to the side. 

Ben holds his hand up in a half-hearted wave and moves to step around her. He tells her he’ll see her in class tomorrow and ambles off back to his office. Placing the now partially melted ice pack back against his head, he decides this week was definitely shaping up to be a worst week ever contender. 

Rey is left to stare at the retreating figure of the sexiest damn brick wall in the history of ever.

****

  
  
  


Unlocking the door, Ben all but throws the keys at the table where the video footage sits mocking him. “Come back to us, Ben,” they say.

Collapsing into the chair, he wonders how he could have messed up that interaction with Rey any worse. Obviously, he could have, of course. He is nothing if not the Master of Awkward Interactions With Women. 

He wonders, though. Could he have said anything to make her talk a little more? Or laugh? Or say, breathlessly, “Ben, you are everything I need a man to be. There’s _no way_ I can go on a blind date knowing I’d rather go on a date with you.”

He huffs aloud at his own imagination. 

Not in this lifetime, Solo. 

As Rey makes her own way back down the hall, she alternates between berating herself for making the first real interaction she’s had with her TA crush awkward as hell, and wistfully imagining it had gone differently. 

  
But, she only gives in to self-pity for a few moments before she does what Rey does best: pulling herself up by her bootstraps and carrying on. Reminding herself that she was in this building for an actual reason other than colliding with Ben/TA/Brick Wall, she realizes she has mere moments before her appointment with her advisor. 

Marching determinedly down the hall, she puts all thoughts of Ben Solo TA Extraordinaire behind her. 

Mostly.

****

  
  
  


Luke looks up from his desk as he hears the knock on his office door. Taking a quick glance at the clock, he makes note of the fact that Rey is once again, just a few minutes late. She flies by the seat of her pants, this kid. And yet, ultimately, she’s always where she needs to be when she needs to be there. And always with an enthusiasm born from obvious gratitude. Gratitude that he rarely gets to see exhibited from most of his other Engineering students. 

Knowing just enough about Rey’s backstory to know this kid has had to fight for everything she’s ever had, he smiles softly.

With a quick, “It’s open. Come in,” he waits for his star student to come in. She rushes across the room and plops into the chair opposite his desk with an anxious side-eye at the clock. Breathing an audible sigh of relief at having made it only a few minutes late, Luke can’t help but take advantage of the opportunity to tease her just a little. 

“Had something more important to attend to, Jackson?” he chides.

Rey’s cheeks go pink and she looks flustered as she brings her eyes back to him. “No, Luke! Of course not…” she trails off as he puts his hand up to stop her.

“Take a deep breath, Rey. I’m just giving you a hard time,” he says, not unkindly.

Her shoulders sag in relief. “Luke, I’m so sorry to be late. Again.”, she hangs her head at that. “You know I appreciate you making time for me whenever I need you.”

And he does. This kid is unique. And whipsmart. Her mind whirs at a speed most accomplished engineers can only hope to emulate. He’s been tracking her progress since the day administration pushed her scholarship packet and bio across his desk. He knew she was going to be a force in this program. And she hasn’t proven him wrong, yet.

Late or not.

“I do indeed, kid.” he truthfully tells her.

Rey leans back against the unmoving metal of the chair and takes a steadying breath before plowing ahead with her request. “So, Luke, remember when you told me freshman year that if I ever needed a place to stay during the break, you knew someone who could help me out?”

  
  


****

  
  
  


Reality really does bite, sometimes. 

Last night found Rey peeking over the back of the couch like a child spying on her parents. She watched a sickeningly sweet domestic scene play out in the kitchen, behind her. One that was becoming more and more common at her and Rose’s dinky campus housing apartment. 

This time, she took to heart the obvious fact that the scene did not include her. 

She’s happy for Rose. She really is. And even though her boyfriend, Armie, can be condescending as hell, he adores Rose. They share that sentiment. And that makes him bearable.

But it also makes him a near-constant presence in their apartment. 

The minute Rose asked her if she could “talk to her” last night after Armie left, she knew something was up. And that she probably wasn’t going to like it very much. 

She recited the systems engineering theory over and over in the short time it took her to cross the apartment to Rose’s bedroom door. Not because she was trying to learn it. No, Rey knew it stone-cold already. But because it brought her comfort every time someone else told her they were going to leave.

“Thank you, Mr. Mitaka,” Rey silently thinks as she fondly remembers her physics teacher from 10th grade. He saw her propensity for engineering as soon as she entered high school and promptly took her under his wing. Even now, she can trace the ways Mr. Mitaka’s encouragement and guidance helped her on her path toward the Engineering scholarship she eventually earned here at Chandrilla Tech.

Her head comes back to the present moment as she stands in front of Rose’s door. Clenching her fists open and closed, she mentally chants, “System engineers use their technical knowledge of the whole system to guide the system development.” Rose beckons her to come in before she even gets to knock. 

The words are uttered softly. Rose is not usually soft. About anything.

Shit. This is going to be really bad. 

Rey starts spiraling. Rose is moving out. Rose is moving in with Armitage fucking Huxtable. She knew she should have kept her hatred for him tucked closer.

“So, ReyBaby,” she begins, “you know how you and I talked about going to visit Paige for Christmas break?”

Rey does her best to keep her expression neutral and nods her head, hoping Rose will just spit it out so that she doesn’t have to keep trying to come up with back-up plans in her head.

“Well, Armie has asked me to go skiing with him. And that means I can’t take you home to see Paige with me.” Rose pauses for a moment to take in Rey’s facial expression and body language. 

She knows her best friend well. She knows Rey is going to pretend it’s fine while she crumbles inside. Rose isn’t about to let that happen. They’ve taken care of each other ever since they met in the same foster home a decade ago. 

Watching Rey’s shoulders sag in relief, she realizes, again, how tense unexpected changes make her. And she suspects Rey imagined the worst. 

With an audible sigh of relief, Rey’s eyes soften as she looks at her best friend in the entire galaxy. Besides Finn, of course. These people are her family. Wishing she didn’t always jump to assuming the worst, Rey briefly wonders again if she shouldn’t take Luke up on his constant suggestion to see a campus counselor.

“So, we can’t go see Paige, is all you wanted to talk about? Gods, Rose, I thought you were going to tell me you were moving out!” Rey fixes Rose with a pained look. “Thank the stars! Shit Rosy, that’s, I mean, that sucks. But, I can figure something out over break.”

Now it’s Rose’s turn for shoulders to slump in relief. That’s her Rey! Always making lemonade out of lemons. “You sure Reybaby? I can figure out a way to convince Armie to pay for you to come with.”

Rey starts shaking her head, “Nope!” letting her lip pop on the p so Rose will know she’s not trying to cover up the truth. It always cracks her up when Rey does it. “And I know just who to go to. My mentor, Luke told me freshman year that if anything ever came up with housing, to let him know.”

Rose breathes a bit easier and her usual beaming grin replaces the furrowed brow and chewed lip. “Good. Then let’s go get some hot chocolate!”

Knowing Rey will never turn down her favorite indulgence, they link arms and head to the kitchen. Turning to Rose, Rey adds, “I’m doling out the marshmallows tonight, though. You didn't give me near enough last time!”


	2. Consideration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some pining happens. Ben's still not finding what he needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hang on a sec. We're switching to a slow-ish burn. And upping the chapter count by one. These two can never seem to do anything quickly. So. Much. Considering. But, I'm gonna try to make it worth the extra couple of thousand words for that sweet little HEA we love so much.
> 
> If you're enjoying this fluffy little thing, please let me know in the comments.

Ben fumbles for his phone as it blares the next alarm. He can’t remember which one he is up to now, he’s snoozed so many already. 

Rolling over, he smiles wryly at himself as he sees “GTFU YOU ARE OFFICIALLY LATE!” displayed aggressively across the screen. _The fifth alarm, then_. With a groan, he throws back the sheet and finally taps stop instead of snooze. 

“Winter isn’t coming, it’s fucking here,” his feet scream as soles connect with frigid hardwood floors. Sighing, he realizes how right the General was, again, when she visited last time. He does need a rug under his bed.

Scrubbing his large hand down his face, he pads over to the dresser and pulls on black joggers and performance tee. Sitting back on the edge of the bed to slip into his running socks and sneakers, he briefly considers chucking his morning run and sliding back into bed. 

The shrill fire alarm ring of his phone cancels that idea as he notes that Snoke is once again torturing him with a 6:00 am status report call. The man refuses to use email to communicate. Ben suspects, once again, that Snoke makes these ungodly early morning calls just to get in his head.

“Yes, Snoke,” Ben answers flatly. 

“Now now, son, is that any way to greet your Mentor? Going for your morning run, are you,” Snoke asks in his smarmy voice.

“Yes, and I’d like to get to it, if you don’t mind,” Ben offers back cheekily.

“Careful, Benjamin,” hisses Snoke. “Don’t forget that you can’t earn your PhD without my final stamp of approval.”

Dragging his palm down his face, he pulls in a deep lungful of air. 

Snoke barrels on. “Need I remind you that your conclusions will go the final mile toward securing you that precious title you’re after?”

At this, Ben closes his eyes with a resigned breath. “No. I’m well aware. You help me stay ever mindful of that.”

Slithering back into sickeningly sweet mode, Snoke ends the conversation much the way he starts it. “Well, I’ll let you get back to your run. Make sure you find what _I need_ you to, Benjamin. A lot is riding on your conclusions, as you know. Have a good day, son.”

Ben immediately punches the end call icon and throws his phone so hard it skitters up the bed and cracks against the headboard. Scrambling across the top of his bed after it, he breathes a sigh of relief to see no new damage has been done. 

_What a way to start the fucking day._ Sliding into his running shoes, he laces them up and puts his earbuds in his ears to head out to pound the pavement. He may have pumped up “Out for Blood” by Sum 41 a little louder than usual this morning.

After returning, he strips down and hops into the shower. The run got rid of some of his aggravation with Snoke, as it always does. But, as the water slides down his body, he feels the beginnings of arousal as he remembers his recent run-in with Rey Jackson. Picturing her hands as he handed her phone back to her, he groans. 

Knowing there’s no use in pretending his cock isn’t rapidly responding to those images in his mind, he takes his member in hand. Closing his eyes he braces his other arm against the cool tiles of the shower wall and begins stroking himself with long, languid pulls. He hears her lilting British accent in his head and his movements speed up. Imagining her body tucked up against his in the shower, it takes no time at all for hot ropes of his spend to come spurting out. 

Feeling relieved of some of the sexual tension he’s been feeling all semester, but anxious to have to face the object of his fantasy in class in an hour, Ben dresses quickly and heads out to the kitchen to make his breakfast. 

Placing his thoughts about the pretty pair of eyes into a different box in his mind, for the time being, Ben switches mental gears. 

As he rethinks through every piece of tape and DVD footage he’s had to pore through so far, Ben pulls at a particular thread that keeps nagging at him. 

He knows the social phenomena used to explain the original 1960’s experiment were unsubstantiated. But how does he connect the dots to the underlying conflict theory of the participants having to choose between eating the marshmallows as soon as they wanted to and holding off for more of them? If they even could, that is. Holding off on anything isn’t usually in a child’s skill set.

His brain snags again on the footage from the most recent experiment. It had been repeated numerous times since originally being conducted in the late ’60s. The 2003 experiment, though, featured that little girl with the needy eyes. She was so confused when the marshmallows were taken away. 

And again, he finds himself wishing he could provide her with all the marshmallows she could ever want. And then some.

Shaking his head to refocus on gathering the spinach leaves and blueberries he needs to make his protein shake, he again tries to find a possible missing link that will allow him to prove what Snoke wants him to: that this study does indeed validate and prove that instant gratification is measurable. And Ben knows it is. It just wasn’t done properly in the initial study. 

And the initial study is exactly the one Snoke keeps insisting Ben focus on. His mind is drawn back to the little marshmallow girl again. Dammit! Something about the girl is...important. He just feels it in his gut. And he begins to think that whatever that connection is could unravel every one of Snoke’s underhanded efforts to force him to validate this fucking study. If he could just figure out where it starts.

For the hundredth time, Ben wishes it wasn’t the late disgraced Anakin Skywalker and his partner Sheev Palpatine that had been the originators of the experiment. He’s worked damn hard his entire collegiate career, and every moment thereafter, to make sure that he isn’t associated with his grandfather in any way. No one even knew that Ben was Skywalker’s grandson. 

Except for Richard Snoke.

And Dick made sure Ben knew that he knew at every opportunity. 

With each new piece of social science that’s been added to make the study more viable in recent years, it’s gotten farther away from the initial findings. He’s tried every angle he can to make the earliest determinations stick, but too many social scientists have disproved the validity of the preliminary findings.

He’s screwed and he knows it. 

The General keeps telling him she’ll help if he ever finally decides to “grow a pair, Benny” and tell Snoke to go jump off a cliff. But he wants to make a name for himself on his own. And he can’t do that if his mom comes to the rescue every time he backs himself into a corner. Which is already more often than he wishes she had to. 

Sighing against the injustice of having his lineage used against him in the exact way that he hoped it never could be, he gets back to his shake.

He’s just gathering the final components of his breakfast when he hears his phone ring again. This time, with the old car horn blaring sound. _Great! Uncle Luke._

“Benny Boy!” Luke knows Ben hates being called Benny. The only one who really gets away with it is the General. And even then, he rolls his eyes. From Luke, it just irritates the hell out of him.

“Don’t call me that, Uncle Luke,” Ben says with a sigh, knowing his request will have zero impact.

“Ben, I’m sorry, I can’t help it. I’ll always see you as Benny.” Luke’s willingness to switch to a name Ben prefers should have tipped him off that he was about to ask for something. But his mind was so preoccupied with how to make Snoke happy that it didn’t.

Luke cleared his throat before diving into his request. “I’m ah...wondering - I’m wondering if you’re still planning on going home to the General’s over break?” 

  
Ben’s brain finally catches up. “Yes.” And then, as things start clicking, “Wait, why?”

“Well, I’ve got a student-”

“No.”  
  
“Ben! You haven’t even heard me out yet.”  
  
“No one is staying at my apartment. The last time I let you convince me to let someone stay over a spring break, I came back to an apartment full of cat hair. And you _knew I was allergicI!”_

He’s still pissed about that one.

“Well, this student has no pets. They have very little of anything, to be honest. And they’re here on full scholarship but need a place to crash just for the three weeks between semesters.” Luke plows ahead.

“Besides,” Luke adds, “you won’t even have to have any contact with them. They’re not moving in until the day after you leave-”

“ _If_ I agree.”

“Of course. If you agree. And I’ll make sure they’re out before you get back. Ben, this kid has had to fight for everything they’ve ever gotten. You’d be doing a huge good deed here. Just… consider it? Please?” Luke quiets and allows Ben a moment to let his request sink in.

Curiosity gets the better of Ben as he wonders who exactly this _special student_ is. But, wanting his uncle to sweat a little, he says, “Let me think about it for a few days. I really have to get going, Luke.”

“Ah yes, Snoke’s still circling around you about that study, huh? I don’t envy you your task, Ben.” Luke makes a few more unhelpful comments before saying goodbye and telling his nephew that he’ll check in with him in a few days for an answer.

Punching the end call button, he turns to the blender to make his smoothie and remembers that he’s out of his favorite coffee beans. And now he had to choose between making his breakfast smoothie or stopping to get a cup of coffee before his Statistics class.

Ben decides this day was absolutely shaping up to be a shitshow. 

****

  
  


Arriving in time to slide into her usual perch from which to best observe Mr. Sexy Statistics TA, Rey gingerly sips at her peppermint cocoa. The marshmallows have long melted by now, it was scalding hot earlier this morning. Rey sighs as she realizes this means her initial calibrations on the temperature settings didn’t work. She makes a mental note to fiddle with it again when she gets back home after her shift at Maz’s Grille tonight.

Preoccupied with that thought, it’s not until bergamot and citrus waft past her nose along with a whoosh of cooler air that she realizes Ben Solo has indeed entered the lecture hall. _Why does he have to smell so good?_

Sitting up straighter, she watches his ass intently as he descends the steps toward the podium. For statistical purposes.

She swiftly calculates the statistical probability of a TA for Social Science being so damn delicious.

_Maker, I am thirsty!_

Dumping his messenger bag unceremoniously on top of the large wooden desk at the front of the room, she notices the way his thigh flexes as he turns. Another statistical anomaly amongst the science nerds? 

Chuckling to herself, she also notes that Mr. Solo - Ben, he told her to call him Ben - takes extra care with the to-go coffee cup in his hand. _He must really need that coffee_.

Putting his free hand up to get the chit-chat to simmer down, he greets the class. “I know we’ve only got a week left before the break, but we’ve still got a few things to cover before your exam in a few days.” 

Pausing to take a sip from his cup, he closes his eyes in a long blink and Rey’s brain short-circuits as she imagines a much different scenario. Rubbing her thighs together, another benefit of hiding higher up and in the corner, she tries to get control over the sudden throbbing that has started up at her core.

_Dammit! Get a grip, Jackson!_

Rey closes her own eyes and inhales deeply through her nose, in an attempt to calm down. But when she opens them, she’s staring at the thick thighs of the very object of her thoughts. 

Making his way up the stairs, Ben decides to let Ms. Jackson know that he is indeed aware that she hides herself away up there. And furthermore, she may be fucking adorable with those freckles thrown across her cheekbones, but she is expected to at least pretend to be awake. 

“Are we keeping you from a nap, Ms. Jackson?” He smirks as he rumbles down at her.

Furiously blushing, _because that deep velvet voice,_ Rey looks up at him through parted lashes as a pink flush crawls up her neck and brightens her cheeks. Mumbling a sheepish, “No sir. I was just doing some deep breathing,” she draws her eyes up to his.

Hearing Rey call him “Sir” has rendered Ben incapable of speaking and seeing the blush spread up her slender neck recalls his own lurid actions earlier this morning. Standing so close that he could smell the fruity essence of whatever shampoo or body wash or whatever it was that smelled so damn good on her wasn’t helping, either.

Ben quickly realizes he needs to abort mission. Pronto!

Taking in her confused expression, something sparks in Ben’s mind. Turning on his heel, he quickly makes his way back down the stairs to the safety round behind his podium. 

There is something so familiar about this girl - no, student - that has toyed at the back of his mind all semester. But damn if he can figure out what that is.

He resolves to put the girl from his mind as he begins one of the final lectures of the semester. 

What are the statistical probabilities he’ll be able to keep from thinking about her for the rest of lecture time, he wonders?

Not great, it turns out.

  
  


****

  
  
  


“Poe, for the love of gods, please change my contact on your phone?” 

He snickers at her. “What? _Miss Jackson If You’re Nasty_ doesn’t work for you?”

Rey rolls her eyes and appeals to Finn, the saner of the two. “Finny, please! Get your man under control. I shouldn’t have to beg to have a proper contact name.”

Finn huffs out a laugh. “Sunshine, if you think I can control a single thing Poe does, then you have severely overestimated my ability to keep him in check.”

It’s true. Poe is a wild card. Beyond the bizarre fact that he grew up as the childhood friend of her TA, Ben Solo, she never knows what might come out of his mouth next. 

Sighing, she turns her attention to the more important discussion: her blind date that weekend. She’d finally caved and was letting the boys set her up with someone they claimed was just her type. Should she be worried about what they think her type might be, since Poe thinks an 80’s song reference best describes her?

“Okay, tell me about him. What do I need to know going in?” 

Finn hears her unasked question. He knows Rey’s need to control variables is as strong as her love for hot cocoa with marshmallows. “He’s wide. You like ‘em wide, right?”

She nods.

“He’s a defensive lineman for CTU and-”

“Oh. Hell, no! I am not going on a date with some asshole jock. No way, Finn. Gods! How could you even think that I-”

Finn interrupts her rant as quickly as he can. “He’s also here on a full academic scholarship. _Aa-kuh-deh-mick_ ,” he reiterates, to get her full attention.

And it does. 

“Okaaaay. I’m listening.”

“His name’s Snap Wexley. Sandy blonde hair. He’s a big boy. Did I mention he’s a big boi?”

Exasperated with Finn’s need to restate her preferences, she notices he forgot to mention one feature she almost always goes for. 

He’s watching her face though and Finn heads her off at the pass. “He’s not suuuper tall, but he’s got some girth. I told you he’s big, right?”

Shaking her head, Rey starts to think Finn was trying to sell Snap a little too hard and calls him out on it. “Why are you making such a big deal about this guy?”

“Rey. Baby. Sunshine...” He starts clapping his hands once in between each of the next words. “You. Need. To. Get. Some.”

Not even blinking an eye, she agrees. “Don’t I know it.”

And immediately pictures Ben Solo. 

****

  
  


Raking his hand through his wavy hair, Ben leans back in the creaky metal chair of the office and pulls long and hard on his now-cold coffee. 

Grimacing, because he _knew_ it had gone cold but he somehow forgot to remind his brain of that before taking another sip, he pitches the cup in the trash can under the desk. 

And damn near has a heart attack as he straightens back up. Snoke has entered the office. Like most sharks, his advisor prefers to sneak up on his prey from behind. 

Taking a deep breath, he reins in the stream of expletives that threaten to bubble up and instead opts for simply uttering his name. “Snoke.”

“Ben. How are you coming along, there, Son? Should I be getting concerned that no new corroborating evidence has made its way across my desk yet? 

Ben doesn’t want to give Snoke any fuel for his fire. Then again, nothing he says is going to be received well anyway, unless it’s exactly what the man wants to hear. “Still working on it,” Ben replies.

“I don’t need to remind you of what’s riding on this, do I?”

So badly wanting to slap the sneer right off his former mentor’s face, he balls his fists up and rests them on top of his thighs, instead.

Reminding himself that he only has to bear with this insufferable man’s presence for another couple of months, he nods. 

“Good. I’m glad we understand one another.” Just as stealthily as he arrived, Snoke leaves.

Ben’s shoulders burst into a quick convulsive shake as he tries to get rid of the slimy feeling Snoke always leaves in his wake.


	3. Aggregation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey reconsiders that D.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. A slight CW and TW here: A date gets aggressive. Not Ben! No hands on are on any bodies, but there are uncomfortable feelings. It's quick and starts at **_He's worse actually._** and ends at **_And Ben feels satisfied._**
> 
> We're still doing that slow burn.

“But whyyyyy?” Rey’s whining gets her nowhere when Finn is on a mission to dress her sexy-casual for a date. 

Rose had left that morning for her ski vacation with Hux after confiding that she suspected that Armie was going to propose. She’d sprung for manicures for them both the night before she left. Before walking out the door, she’d leaned in to waggle her eyebrows. “Can’t wait to hear all about that D you’re gonna get tonight!”

And off she went.

Sighing to herself, Rey admits she’d rather be anywhere but on a date with this Snap guy. She’d seen him in the quad throwing a football with some friends and overheard him laughing at the crude jokes being shared. He seemed every bit the arsehole she’d originally imagined him to be. 

She shares this with Finn.

“Reybaby, you know we all love you, right? And you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. So if you really are feeling uneasy, let’s call it right now. I’ll happily come do this another night for another date that you are on board for.” Finn looks at her with his solemn puppy eyes and rubs her upper arms soothingly.

Admittedly, this Snap character didn’t do anything  _ to her _ . It was more of a gut feeling she got. Growing up in the foster care system, you learned to trust those instincts.

And really, she was probably just still in a crush-haze after taking her statistics final and having to watch Ben Solo chew the end of his pen every time she looked up. She rubbed her thighs together so much throughout the test that she’d chafed by the time she left the lecture hall two hours later. 

Lost in her memory of earlier today, she wonders if it was just her imagination that his plush pink lips quirked up at the edges when she handed her test to him. 

There was definitely no mistaking how her clit throbbed as he rumbled out, “Thank you, Ms. Jackson. I hope your break is pleasurable,” in his deep honeyed voice.

Enough of that. 

Her shoulders slump as she resigns herself to giving someone who is definitely not Ben Solo a chance for the next few hours.

“Let’s do this. As everyone keeps telling me,” at this, Rey swivels to pin her best friend with a telling look, “I need that D.”

Drawing herself up, she gazes at her reflection in the mirror. At least she’ll look good. Finn is clearly gifted with his ability to turn her mess into something beautiful.

Minutes later, after they’ve all piled into the back of the 5-person Lyft, Poe starts in with his advice for the evening ahead. “Don’t give him every opinion you have on everything that comes out of his mouth.”

Finn adds, “And don’t burp after you slug your beer back. Better pain than shame!”

“Oh, oh, oh! And, make sure you flash him those beautiful eyes with a coy smile once every so often.” 

Poe’s on a roll now.

“And maybe stick out your chest a bit.”

“My gods, Poe! I’m going on a date, not an interview for the Bachelor. Maker!” Rey’s had it. Her face flames and she turns her head to hone in on Finn. “So, what you’re saying is, don’t be me. At all. In any way, shape, or form.”

“Now Sunshine, that’s not wh-”

“That’s  _ exactly  _ what we’re saying.” Poe shoots Finn a death glare. “We’re trying to get you some, Rey.” 

She’s left no time to reply as their ride pulls up outside The Resistance. “Okay,” she turns to look at Finn. “Who chose the bar?” She doesn’t like this place. It’s always filled with frat boys and dude-bros and girls looking for… well, what she was looking for tonight. 

Damn her dry vagina...

Poe exits the car and taps out a tip on his phone for the driver. Marching up to the front doors, he waves them in. 

Shrugging his shoulders against the futility of trying to manage his unmanageable boyfriend, Finn opts to give Rey’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “Just give it a chance, Sunshine. Okay? You never know. Maybe he’s not that bad. And we’ll be right at the bar.” Finn launches up and out of the car leaving Rey to follow.

****

He is that bad.

He’s worse, actually.

Within twenty minutes of getting-to-know-you conversation, he’s eyed up two of the wait staff and at least four other patrons. Rolling her eyes for the tenth time, she feels a headache coming on. 

Poe and Finn had made themselves scarce as soon as they introduced Rey and Snap, leaving them to their “date”. 

Scanning the bar for her friends, she can’t see them. Snap notices her attention elsewhere and takes the opportunity to stop ogling other people and take offense. “Am I that boring?”

It’s the  _ way  _ he says it that puts her body on high alert. Her shoulders stiffen and she turns back to face him squarely. If growing up in the foster care system taught her anything, it was to always be on her guard. And Rey knew how to hold her own. Not backing down from your opponent was rule number one.

Ben has been watching the entire scene unfold from his perch on the rickety wooden stool at the bar. Poe had convinced him to take a break from his endless footage scrolling and finally come meet his boyfriend. 

  
What Poe has failed to mention is that his boyfriend Finn is best friends with Rey Jackson. The feisty auburn-haired coed that he’d purposefully been trying to avoid thinking about since she is,  _ was,  _ his student. 

And that Rey is also here. 

Only, on a blind date.  _ The  _ blind date he’d probably seen mentioned in the text exchange on her phone.

But try as he might, his gaze keeps straying to the high-top table on the other side of the bar. And every time he looks over there, he becomes more concerned about the body language Rey is exhibiting. It is  _ not  _ the body language of a comfortable, happy date. 

If the last five years of his study of social science have taught him anything, it is how to read body language. And stiff shoulders and eyes darting around in panic are anything but good.

“Helllooooo. Ben…” Snapping his fingers in front of his childhood friend’s eyes, he follows Ben’s line of sight. “Oh well, hello there. Benjamin, are you eyeing up our little Reybaby?”

Blushing furiously, he realizes she needs help more than he needs to wiggle out of his embarrassment. “Yeah. No! I mean, Rey seems like she might need a little back-up right now.”

Having just returned from the bathroom, Finn has caught the tail end of what Ben just shared and now makes a beeline over to the high-top table. With Ben hot on his heels. 

“Rey, Snap. Hey. How’s it going?” Finn goes for easy-going.

But Snap, in true asshole form, shoos him away. “This doesn’t concern you, Finn. I got this.”

“Anything that concerns my best friend concerns me, Snap. Maybe you guys just aren’t a good fit. Let’s go, Sunsh-”

Snap stands up and glares at Finn. “I said I’ve. Got. Th…”

Ben chooses that moment to step around from behind Finn and return Snap’s glare with a snarled, “No, buddy. You don’t. It’s time to say goodnight to Rey.”

Looking up, Snap takes quick stock of the situation and realizes he is no match for both his football teammate and this mountain of a man staring him down.

Throwing up his hands in mock surrender he says, “Hey hey, there’s no problem here, man. I’m a lover - not a fighter.” Snap’s eyes then alight on the tall brunette he’d been making eyes at over Ben’s shoulder. “In fact, I think my real date is waiting for me over there.”

With the casual indifference of someone used to getting his way with no one bothering him about being the pig he is, he makes as if to leave.

But Ben isn’t having it. 

“You owe Rey an apology.” Towering over Snap, he lowers his tone enough that it sounds menacing, even to Rey’s ears, as she stands behind him.

“For what? Attempting to talk to someone who clearly doesn’t have an interest in talking back?” Snap doesn’t realize that Ben is already seeing red. This last comment pushes the taller man into a full-on rage. 

Grabbing the front of Snaps polo in his hand, he says simply and quietly, “You  _ will  _ apologize for being an ass. Now.”

Letting go, he steps to the side to allow Snap to look at Rey and give her the apology she is owed. 

Like the weasel he is shaping up to be, Snap barely looks at Rey’s face as he mumbles out a terse, “Sorry.” Turning to walk away, he gets three steps in before he hears Ben’s voice again.

“For what, exactly?” 

Ben isn’t satisfied. He’s fired up now. And he’s not entirely sure why. What Snap did was inexcusable, sure. And it reflected poorly on the good men that are trying desperately to show they aren’t complete and utter jerks, yes.

But that wasn’t it. He felt...protective, maybe? He doesn’t really know Rey well enough to want to protect her, so that doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense in his brain right now. 

Pulled back to reality by the asshole date’s grunt of displeasure, Ben glares at him until he turns to face Rey again.

“I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable, Rey. Have a great night.”

Now he turns to Ben. “Is that  _ good enough _ for you?” he sneers.

“I don’t know. Did you actually mean it?” Ben throws back.

“Listen, I’m gonna go over there to that tall brunette and forget this date ever happened. I promise you I won’t even so much as sneeze in this direction for the rest of the night. The rest of the year! If you’ll just let me go.” He’s practically pleading at this point.

And Ben feels satisfied.

Finally.

Mostly.

  
  


****

  
  


Snoke’s colleague Erik Pryde has been watching this whole little melodrama go down with great interest. Snapping a pic from his vantage point on a corner barstool, he smirks to himself before sending it off to Dick, with the message, “Doesn’t look like your protégé is following any leads this evening. Except for the very one you don’t want him to.”

Sitting back on his seat, he picks up his glass and drains the remaining liquid. He leaves just enough to cover the drink, shorting the bartender a tip, and slithers on out before Ben sees him.

  
  
  


****

  
  


“You didn’t have to defend my honor, Mr. Solo. But thank you.” Rey will not blush. She won’t.

The telltale pink flushes up her neck anyway.

“First of all, it’s Ben. Remember? The semester is officially over. And second of all, that guy is an aggressive asshole. You don’t deserve that. No woman does.” 

At this admission, it finally occurs to Ben that it may not have been his place to protect Rey in this situation. And worse, that she may resent it.

Well, shit.

Red splotches begin to dot his neck and work their way up across his cheeks. This catches Rey’s eye. She’s not sure if it’s more adorable that he’s embarrassed  _ now  _ that he’s gone all caveman on Snap’s ass, or that he’s clearly just as embarrassed by the whole interaction as she is.

Seconds go by in what feels like hours as they stand awkwardly in front of one another.

Finn takes the opportunity to clear his throat and remind them they are not, in fact, standing there by themselves. 

“Well, thank you, Ben. I certainly appreciate you wrangling that prick on our Sunshine’s behalf.” He flashes a wicked little grin at Rey from behind Ben’s back along with two thumbs up.

Shaking her head at the absolute ridiculousness of her best friend’s behavior, Ben mistakes it for her disagreement. 

And displeasure.

He leaps to fill the space with something to make it right. 

And mentally files away that her nickname is “Sunshine”... it suits her. 

“I’m sorry that guys can be such dicks sometimes.”

Cocking her head to the side, Rey takes in the sight of Ben’s muscled forearm as he grips the back of his neck in discomfort. A sigh escapes her mouth without her permission. 

Eyes going wide, they travel down to the source of the sound. He finds himself mesmerized by her lips. They are so...pink. Were they always this pink? Did she put lipstick on them? They look so soft. 

The urge to suck her bottom lip is so strong that he starts leaning down toward it without thinking. 

Once again, Finn’s timing is impeccable. “Ahem. So, um… yeah- I’m going to go back over to my boyfriend now. As Rey can tell you, Solo, it’s apparently my job to make him behave.” He snorts to himself as he turns to go.

Drawing up sharply, Ben fists his hands at his sides. 

Rey notices. And is disappointed. She thinks he was leaning in to kiss her. She really wants to kiss his plush lips. Him. She really thinks she just wants to kiss him. 

For science.

Ben seems to realize before Rey does that they are standing in the middle of a crowded bar just staring at each other’s lips. “Want to go join Finn and Poe?” 

“Not really.” Rey looks up quickly, mortified to have voiced out loud what she was thinking. 

Ben laughs and gently cups her elbow to navigate them over toward the bar where their friends are. Rey comes back to herself and tries to cover up her humiliation with her genuine curiosity over how Ben knows Poe. 

As he explains that they grew up together and are childhood friends, they sidle up to the one empty stool next to Poe, and Ben motions for Rey to take it.

“Ah, you’re back from saving the day, Benny boy. What are the odds that you knew our Sunshine, here?”

Rey guffaws at the term of endearment Poe uses for Ben and tucks it away in her mind.

Narrowing his eyes at Poe, Ben instead chooses to turn and address his former student. It hits him that he can finally get to know her better. Right now. Without any fear of the professor/student ethical issues plaguing him all semester every time he considered it.

And if Ben were a betting man, based on the way Rey’s breath hitched when he bent down toward her lips earlier, she might want to get to know him better too.

Raising his hand to get the bartender’s attention, his dad’s favorite saying pops into his head. “Never tell me the odds.”  _ Indeed. _

Turning to hand Rey her drink, Ben’s eyebrows shoot up as he finds her stuffing her cheeks with the pretzels from the bowl on the bartop. She looks adorable. 

And he’s having a major moment of déjà vu. 

His brain scratches as he tries to figure out why.  _ That’s stupid! You’ve never eaten with her before.  _ Schooling his features, he takes a sip of his whiskey on the rocks. “Hungry, Rey?”

Not even caring that she’s basically stuffing herself silly in front of the man she’s been crushing on all semester long, she has the good sense to swallow her food before answering. 

“I didn’t eat much earlier and I’m…” reaching for another oversized handful of pretzels she continues on, “-starving!” At that, she polishes off the entire contents of her palm as Ben looks on in amusement. 

The feeling of familiarity passes and his eyes crinkle at the corners and his dimples deepen as he smiles at her.

Rey stops chewing and just stares.  _ Damn, he is adorable when he full-out smiles like that. _

“Rey? Are you okay?”

Tilting her head as if she was just trying to crack her neck she looks up at him, smiling herself. “Just taking it all in.”

Noticing her attempt to relieve pressure in her neck, Ben picks up that thread of conversation and they get into a mildly heated discussion about the merits of Chiropractics. Rey explains that one of her foster families -  _ the only good one she was ever placed in, but he doesn’t need to know tha _ t - introduced her to a wonderful chiropractor after a nasty car accident when she was learning how to drive.

Finn, who has been trying desperately to mind his own business - and failing miserably - leans in toward them. “Gods, that was the worst year.” 

Ben leans back and questions them both. “So, is that how you two met? In foster care?”

Maybe it’s the way Ben asks without pity, or maybe it’s the casual way he’s standing, elbows braced against the bar behind him, or maybe it’s just  _ him _ , but Rey decides Ben’s D is the D she wants tonight.

And if she’s being honest, probably for a lot longer than tonight. 

Her hunger turns into horny. Maybe she’s getting a little buzzed? No, she’s only had two beers over the last two hours. It’s this hot mountain of a man! 

She’s only been finished with her statistics class for less than 24 hours. Can she really hit on her TA so soon? Should she? Dammit! She needs to escape for a moment and catch her breath and gather her thoughts.

Hopping up from the stool quickly, she shoots a quick, “I’ve just got to hit the loo, I’ll be right back,” over her shoulder and jets down the hallway to the bathrooms.

Entering the stall, she tries to do some of the deep breathing Rose has been teaching her how to do. Feeling her pulse calm to a more reasonable beat, she takes care of business and heads back out to wash her hands. 

Hearing a stall door bang open behind her, she looks up to see the tall brunette Snap had moved on to. The woman wastes no time striking up a very uncomfortable conversation.

“So, your knight in shining armor sure is one tall drink of water, hmmm?” 

Rey sees the smirk on the woman’s face and has the inexplicable urge to slap it off.  _ Where the hell did that urge come from? Rey doesn’t do “jealous”. Does she? Is she? _

“He’s a true gentleman,” she decides to go with instead.

“Well, let me know if you decide to ditch him. I’ll be happy to scoop him right up.” And with that snarky little comment, she waltzes back out of the bathroom. 

Incensed, and all too vividly reminded of why she hates this bar, Rey stomps out of the bathroom. Only to find Ben standing in line waiting his own turn, just outside of it.

Concern laces his features as he stoops down to look into her eyes. “Hey, hey, are you okay? What just happened in there?”

This guy really is too much. He’s the perfect amount of awkward, caring, and hot. And Rey’s starting to feel like she’s going to combust if she doesn’t get to at least kiss those lips tonight.

Seizing the moment, she does just that. 

Taking Ben completely by surprise, she braces her hands up against his chest -  _ shit, that is one solid chest! -  _ and mashes her mouth up against his. Forgetting they have an audience in the hallway with them, Ben wraps his hands around Rey’s waist, both to steady her and to draw her nearer to him.

His lips are every bit as soft and kissable as Rey had imagined. She draws the tip of her tongue along the seam of them and he moans softly as he parts them open.

But before Rey has a chance to delve deeper, they are interrupted by the clearing of multiple throats and snickers around them.

Fisting his shirt as awareness of their surroundings replaces the magic of their momentary connection, she blinks up at him. His pupils are dilated and she leans in toward him again without even realizing it.

Drawing his hand through his inky black hair, he stands up to his full height and removes Rey’s hands from his shirt. Making sure to keep one of her hands firmly in his, he maneuvers them back out to the bar, where Poe and Finn are still deep in discussion.

Just before reaching them, he turns around and trains his hungry eyes back on her. “Would you like to...I mean, maybe we should…” Ben’s face is flaming with embarrassment and he finds himself stumbling over words he felt very sure of seconds ago. Looking down at their clasped hands, Rey interrupts his agonizing.

“Ben?”

“Hmmm?” He looks back up at her.

“Can we maybe get out of here?” Rey is looking at him expectantly.

“Fuck yes, please! I’ll order us a Lyft.” He lets go of her hand to grab his phone out of his pocket to open up the app. 

Poe and Finn trade knowing looks with each other and then shoot Rey all four thumbs up behind Ben’s back.

Laughing softly to herself, she turns her gaze back to Ben and is surprised to find him looking at her with a penetrating mixture of longing and something else she can’t quite name.

She feels the telltale wetness gathering between her legs in anticipation. Forgetting about the D, Rey thinks she might just rather get that B.

  
  



	4. Preservation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey _wants_ to get that B. But Snoke...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember...I'm playing fast and loose with dates of this actual study and subsequent experiments. Please adjust your standards accordingly and suspend reality for the sake of Reylo, and not science. Please and thank you. 
> 
> Also, I’ve added a FINAL chapter to the chapter count. Because this chapter got too dang long. So, I’m breaking it up into two. I want to be sorry. I really do. But I promise there will be no more chapters added.
> 
> TLDR: Dates are made up. I added a chapter.

Standing on the sidewalk, her small hand tucked into his large warm one, Ben marvels at how right it all feels. Rey leans her head on his shoulder and he looks down. The way her hazel eyes sparkle - _no, they are definitely more sage tonight -_ leaves his mouth slack-jawed. 

Tilting her head and looking at him with wide questioning eyes, she asks, “Mr. Solo, um - Ben?” He finds himself tilting his head to match the angle of hers, and she snickers. 

Ben is given no time to reply as their ride pulls up to the curb in front of them. He makes quick work of opening the door and gesturing for Rey to scoot in first. 

Once they are both seated though, keeping their hands off of one another proves to be a challenge. 

Their Lyft driver keeps clearing his throat in warning, letting them know that their rating is tanking with every breathy moan and wet kiss he has to bear witness to. 

  
But Rey and Ben are lost in it. And Ben thinks he doesn’t care if he gets banned from using the ride-sharing app. It will be worth it to continue drinking in Rey’s lips, capturing her sighs in his mouth with each hot sweep of his tongue through hers. 

Wrapping her small fingers around his wide shoulders and hanging on for support, Rey swings her leg over Ben’s lap to straddle him. This earns them a grunt of displeasure from their driver.

But an altogether different grunt from Ben. Tilting himself toward the source of friction, he buries his face in the crook of Rey’s neck and whispers her name, half-disbelieving she’s really here. With him.

Just as Rey confirms this, leaning back a bit to look into his eyes, two things happen simultaneously to bring their moment of intimacy to a screeching halt. Their driver has had enough, and brakes hard enough that Rey would have gone tumbling to the floor if not for Ben’s firm grip on her hips. And his phone starts ringing, with that familiar nasty fire alarm tone.

That is enough to put a stop to their feverish kisses and strokes. “Shit!” Ben blurts loud enough to startle both Rey and their driver.

“Ignore it, Ben. Please.” 

He couldn’t. When Snoke called, he’d learned the hard way to just answer and endure whatever torturous conversation was in store and get it over with. The one time he chose not to answer, he’d found himself grading multiple sections of statistical exams, with not one fucking answer key. 

No thanks.

However, as Rey looks into Ben’s eyes with a mixture of desire and longing, he feels that sense of déjà vu plague him once again. But this time, it snags and he feels sure he knows her. It claws at his desire, in a desperate attempt to force him to place her. 

Unable to do just that, he punches the answer button so hard Rey half expects to find a hole where his index finger connects with it. “Yes,” he grits out,

“Now now, Son,” Snoke begins in his usual appalling manner. 

She can hear a muffled voice on the other end. And it’s… does she know this person? Sliding off of Ben’s lap brings a groan from both of them. 

Her eyes widen as she hears the voice from the other end snarkily ask, “Am I interrupting something?”

“Yes, actually, Snoke. You are.” Ben is beyond the stage of frustration. He’s not even angry. He’s just fucking tired of Snoke’s chokehold over him and every area of his life that gives him any measure of pleasure. And he wants to be done with it. 

“Benjamin...” Snoke gets that condescending tone to his voice. “Need I remind you-”

Ben isn’t giving him even one more moment than he has to, given that he knows exactly what will be coming out of Snoke’s mouth next. It’s a conversation worn thin. Ben decides it’s time to punch a hole in it.

“Snoke, I have made a discovery. But I’m not in a position, currently” - Rey snorts quietly at these words as she pointedly looks down at the half-hard erection in Ben’s pants - “to be able to share it with you. Call me in the morning.”

Snoke attempts to regain the upper hand, but Ben barrels on. 

“ _After_ 10 am, and I’ll fill you in.” 

Sighing his displeasure, Snoke sneers, “This better be worth my time, Benjamin. And yours, actually. It would seem your priorities aren’t straight at the moment.”

“Good night, Snoke,” Ben states firmly and punches the end call button before Snoke can get another word in.

Rifling a hand through his inky locks, disheveling them even more than they already are, he sighs deeply. Leaning his head back against the seat, he feels all sexual energy drain right out of him as he realizes how incredibly rash and stupid he’d just been with Snoke. Now he needs to actually _find_ something worth sharing tomorrow. 

He hadn’t been able to find anything in all his previous digging. What the hell makes him think he’ll be able to find anything now?

Ben’s self-flagellation is interrupted by the feel of Rey’s small hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey, hey. Ben. It’s...it’s okay. You can just have the driver drop me off. It sounds like this Snoke is all over you about this. I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.”

Looking into her eyes, seeing how earnestly she means these words, he realizes he’s not alone. She genuinely wants the best for him at this moment. 

He falls a little bit harder for Rey Jackson.

And gets a little more clear-headed about what had been just about to happen. Shit! He hadn’t even finished grading her section’s exams yet. Snoke could have handed his ass to him on a platter if he found out that he’d taken a current student home before grades were posted. 

Feeling like he’d just dodged a major bullet, he turns his head toward her and just gazes at her for a second. 

“Thank you. You’re such a good gi - person, you know that, right?”

Rey blushes a little at the praise. She didn’t realize how deeply being called “good” would affect her before hearing the words come out of His Hotness’s mouth. 

Not getting a reply, Ben continues on. “Can I call you in a few days and we can grab a coffee before I head out of town for the holidays?”

Rey loves this idea, but she also knows she needs to be packing up her meager belongings to get ready to move into the temporary housing Luke was arranging for her in between semesters.

“Shit!” she shouts, causing Ben to jump a little in his seat. 

Looking at her quizzically, she answers his unasked question. “I need to get in touch with my advisor. He was… erm...arranging something for me that I forgot to follow up on.” _She already feels so self-conscious knowing that Luke is aware of her situation. Ben sure as hell doesn’t need to know, too._

“Actually, I would really love that, but, um… I might be kinda busy in the next few days with my extra work shifts” - _not entirely a lie -_ “so can you maybe text me when you get back? I’d _love_ to get coffee then.” Grabbing his hand and squeezing it, she adds as much inflection as possible into that last sentence so Ben will know how much she means it.

Shifting in his seat, as his erection has finally receded, Ben wonders if maybe now that she has had a moment she regrets what they were going to do. He tries to quell the self-defeating thoughts that start rolling through his mind. 

Rey seems to be reading his mind though, as she brushes her thumb gently back and forth across his knuckles. “Ben? Could we meet when you get back? I’d really like to.”

Inhaling deeply, he feels relief as intensity bleeds into her words and he knows she really does mean them.

“Yes. Absolutely. Yes.” He leans in to give her a chaste kiss as they pull up in front of her campus apartment. 

But Rey is having none of that. She fists the front of his shirt and leans in to deepen the kiss, swiping her tongue along his bottom lip. 

They both groan, at the same time that the Lyft driver decides he’s had enough of it from these two. 

“Okay, you go on now, please, ma’am,” he says as he gestures for her to shoo on out of the car.

Chuckling, Ben squeezes her hands and moves them off of his shirt. “I’ll text you. Okay? Have a great break, Rey.”

Rey slides out of the car and turns to give Ben one final tentative smile before heading up the stairs. It’s only when she gets inside that she realizes she didn’t get the D _or_ the B tonight.

Dammitall!

  
  


****

  
  


As soon as Snoke disconnects from Ben, he dials Pryde’s number. 

“Were you able to divert him?” Erik asks before even greeting him.

Dick Snoke is many things, his first name chief among them. But foolish? No. Not that. 

“Indeed.” Tapping his lanky index finger on top of the desk at his home office, he adds, “Ben is shaping up to be a bigger disappointment than even Anakin Skywalker. Too much of his grandfather in him.”

Pryde snickers at the implication. 

“Let’s meet in the morning. Ben promised to have found something _noteworthy_ to share. Come to my house for lunch. We’ll discuss.” Snoke ends the call and recalls his own connection to the originators of the study and how quickly his whole career could come tumbling down like a flimsy house of cards if he doesn’t get this mess under control.

  
  
  


****

**50 Years Ago**

Anakin Skywalker and his partner Sheev Palpatine have just finished a ground-breaking study on delayed gratification. A study that, if successful, would catapult them both to the top of their field, along with anyone associated with it. Including their interns, Richard Snoke and Erik Pryde.

With his recent marriage to the love of his life, Padme, and the potential notoriety for this study for decades to come, Dr. Skywalker was feeling invincible.

It turned out that Dr. Anakin Skywalker wasn’t quite invincible after all.

A year after the completion of the study, its wildly successful results published as expected, Dr. Skywalker’s life shattered. Months and months of continually being forced to modulate his moral compass in the wrong direction due to Palpatine’s womanizing left him in a dark place. When Anakin discovered that Palpatine and Snoke had been falsifying findings on multiple other studies, Palpatine pinned it on Anakin, disgracing his name in the field.

A mere month after the birth of their twins, Skywalker spiraled down into darkness and left his sweet Padme, daughter Leia, and son Luke, never to be seen or heard from again until his death the following year.

Thirty-four years later, neither Snoke nor Palpatine could have imagined that every diligent and devious effort to keep their house of cards standing would be toppled by a five-year-old child.

Apparently, one of Palpatine’s many dalliances decades ago had produced an illegitimate grandchild who had ended up as a participant in the latest iteration of his original study. If Palpatine’s connection to this study participant, whom he had no intention of claiming as his own blood, were uncovered, it could negate the study, their success, and their careers. 

Sheev Palpatine had not schemed his entire life to lose it all because of some girl. 

And it had all worked out perfectly. 

Until Anakin Skywalker’s grandson came waltzing through the doors of Chandrilla Tech’s Social Science Department as a graduate student, threatening to bring it all down simply because of who he was.

  
  
  


****

  
  


**Present Day**

The shrill tone of her cell phone wakes Rey from one of the most restless sleeps she’s had in years - and she can thank one brick shithouse for every hour of it. 

Bleary-eyed, she reaches over to grab the phone off her nightstand. Seeing Luke’s name flash across the screen, she hastily presses the ancient home button to answer him.

“Luke! Hi. I’m here. Hi!” she blurts out successively in her gravelly morning voice.

Chuckling, he teases, “Late night?” 

“No, no. Well, sort of…” Rey trails off, as she decides Luke doesn’t need to know _why_ she was so restless last night. 

An uncomfortable moment of silence passes as Luke apparently waits for her to finish her thought. 

There’s no way in Jakku she’s going to, though.

When it becomes clear she’s got nothing more to add, Luke jumps in. “So, Rey, I just wanted you to know that I’ve secured you an apartment to use for the next few weeks. You’ll be able to move your things over there in a couple of days. Will that work for you?”

Blinking her eyes to come fully awake at this news, she clears her throat. “Oh gods. Yes! Thanks, Luke. Thank you so much!” And then, because Rey Jackson always questions her worthiness, she adds, “I hope I’m not putting anyone out?”

“Not at all. It’s someone I know very well and he’s happy to help out.” _That wasn’t exactly true, but this kid didn’t need to know his grumpy nephew’s story._ “I’ll let you get ready for the rest of your day. Just text me when you get out of work on Thursday and I’ll shoot you the address and meet you over there with the keys to let you in.”

Rey gives a relieved sigh, one that doesn’t get past Luke’s ears, and brightens considerably despite her lack of sleep. “Thanks again, Luke. I’m... really grateful.”

“I know you are, kid. And I’m happy I could help you.” He stopped himself just short of saying _if anyone deserves it, Rey, you do._ Drawing attention to her one time of need would not be well-received by this scrappy spitfire.

“I’ll see you Thursday, Rey.” 

“You got it, Luke. Bye!” Ending the call, she flops back onto the bed feeling relieved. That was one problem that she wrestled with last night, solved. 

_Time to get packing,_ she tells herself as she bounds out of bed.

  
  


****

  
  


Staring at the research spread out in front of him, Ben’s got his hands halfway through his hair when his phone rings. It’s The General. Yet _another_ conversation that he doesn’t want to have today. 

Sighing deeply, he lets her go to voicemail, only to hear the ding of an incoming text message a minute later. Leia is trying to be more tech-savvy, and quite frankly her techno-trousers are bigger than his at this point. Texting is one of the few things he knows how to do with proficiency. Shutting off his ringer is the other. 

He tries to ignore the three successive vibrations letting him know that The General isn’t finished attempting to get a hold of him. 

Barely sleeping a wink all night, Ben had given up with a groan at his first alarm. Opting to skip his run, he showered and went straight to his office on campus in a desperate attempt to find something, _anything,_ that might help him out of the deep shit pit he was going to be in with Snoke.

Zeroing in on the written notes from each of the studies, a footnote regarding the 2003 experiment catches his eye. And it interests him in a way that makes his heart both lurch _and_ leap. But first, he needs to do a little digging. 

Ignoring the fact that he’s up against the clock with his looming call with Snoke later this morning, he packs up his things and heads to the library.

Less than an hour later, he dials The General’s phone number.

“It’s about time, Benny! My gods! The lengths I have to go through to get my only child to call me back-”.

Ben cuts her off. “Listen, Mom. Remember when you offered your help if I ever “grew a pair”, as you so delicately put it...”

His mother starts chuckling at her own brashness. 

“With Snoke,” Ben continues across her quiet laughter.

  
Not much can shut the mouth of Senator Leia Organa-Solo. But this...this shuts it instantly.

“Benjamin! Is my boy all grown up now?” She can’t resist teasing him before plowing on with her support. “But Benny, really. You know I meant it. Tell me what you’ve got and let’s see what I can do.” 

Leia is able to do a lot. Especially given how quickly her privately funded investigator is able to corroborate Ben’s discovery. Ben’s phone is still on silent when it starts vibrating to warn him of an incoming call. Without even checking to confirm who it is, he cringes and answers with a shaky, “Hello?”

“Oh, my dear sweet November child, no need to sound so scared. It’s just your big bad mother.” Outright laughing, Leia wastes no time getting right to the point. “Benny, I’m about to save your ass. Twice over! Your suspicions were just verified by my PI.”  
  


Ben blows out an audible sigh of relief. But Leia’s not finished. And she is, as usual, absolutely right. For she is indeed going to save his ass. Again. “And unfortunately, you must come home right away. I’ve called the Dean to let her know you are needed for a family emergency, as an immediate family member is in the hospital.”

Dean Amilyn Holdo is practically an aunt to Ben, she’s such a close longtime friend of the Solo family. But she’s never shown Ben an inch of favoritism. And he’s always been thankful that she’s allowed him to make a name for himself here, without anyone’s help.

But now, he’s thankful for her relationship with his family.

And also worried. Concern overtakes all of Ben’s thoughts about Snoke for the moment. “Oh gods! No. Who?”

“Chewie.”

She waits for understanding to dawn. It doesn’t take but a second.

“Gods, Mom! The dog? Really?” Ben is now shaking his head in disbelief at the ridiculousness.

“Oh, I wasn’t lying, though. Chewie _is_ actually at the vet. He swallowed yet another one of my fuzzy socks. That damn dog! I swear, if he wasn’t one of the last ties I have to your father…” She lets that thought go, unvoiced, as she and Ben each reminisce about Han’s larger-than-life presence and the shaggy dog he left behind after his passing two years ago.

Gathering his wits about him, he finally starts connecting some dots. Softening his tone, he asks, “Okay. But why do you need me home again?”

Barking out a short laugh, Leia then sighs before sharing, “That damn dog is coming out of anesthesia in 6 hours and I’m not supposed to be back from the State House until tomorrow. Can you pick him up and bring him home for me?”

The fact that she asked, instead of informing him that it’s exactly what he was going to do, gave Ben pause. 

“What? What is this I hear? Is this… is this The General _politely_ asking.” He can’t help teasing.

“Oh shut it! So? Will you be able to get home in, oh...5 hours and 55 minutes?”

Leia ends the call with a reminder to make copies of what he’s found and bring it with him and to get moving. Ben has never been happier doing what his mother tells him to in his entire life. 

Or happier to avoid a phone call. 

He sets his phone’s voicemail message to reflect that he’s left for a family emergency and will be back in the office after the new year.

_Time to get packing,_ he happily tells himself.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Let's write a chapter with smut!
> 
> Brain: YEAH! But first, dialogue.
> 
> Me: NOOOO. You don't know how to shorten dialogue.
> 
> Brain: _Tittering nervously_ Sur...sure I do. Just watch me!
> 
> Me: Ohhhkaaaay.
> 
>   
> _4,000 words later_
> 
> Me: So, about that smu-
> 
> Brain: SHUTUP!


	5. Authentication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey makes a startling discovery. Ben cleans up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember a long time ago (last chapter) when I said the chapter count was absolutely not going up? What I said and what I meant were apparently two different things.
> 
>   
> I don't even think an _I'm sorry_ will help any. I'll get better at chapter count speculation.
> 
> Maybe.
> 
> Someday.

Earbuds in, Rey’s belting out the chorus to one of her favorite songs by Coldplay while she moves along the small bedroom, smiling to herself. Flinging thongs, sports bras, and her few t-shirts and jeans into a heavy-duty garbage bag, she’s feeling accomplished that her packing is moving along so quickly. 

Not that there was all that much to pack. 

With Rose gone and more than half the day ahead of her,  _ thank you Maz,  _ Rey stops for another little snack break. It is only her third one, and she is almost completely finished so she reasoned it was an absolutely justified opportunity to eat. 

_ Who are you kidding? You never need an excuse to eat -  _ she tells herself. 

“You need sustenance when you’re packing,” she says aloud to no one. 

_ Even if all you own can be shoved into two garbage bags, one duffle bag, and a plastic milk crate _ . Because no one understood better than Rey Jackson how necessary being able to carry your home with you wherever you go was. Fortunately for her, today, that meant she was almost finished packing up.

Hux had helped Rose move out her things before they left and was storing them at his apartment. While he’d kindly offered to do the same for Rey - out of guilt-induced by her feisty Rose, no doubt - she’d turned him down. 

Thankfully, Luke had come through with this apartment. It was apparently a graduate student’s, so that meant it probably had a little more space than their dinky underclassmen housing. 

Honestly though? Rey could care less how much room was in her new temporary home. She was going to have an entire apartment to herself for almost three weeks. And she couldn’t wait to get there and spread out.

That’s what she tells herself anyway, as she stifles the reminder that it also means she’d be completely alone with no one to share Christmas with. 

Polishing off her peanut butter and apple slices, she feels re-energized.  _ Time to get that bathroom cleared out.  _ Gathering her 3-in-1 bottle from the shower, she remembers she hasn’t checked the cabinet under the sink. Swiping under it with her hand, she feels her cheeks pinken, despite no one being around, as her fingers close around her well-hidden waterproof bullet. 

And...  _ a piece of paper? _

Pulling both out, she clapped a hand over her mouth, as she read Rose’s cheeky note. 

> _ “I  _ **_know_ ** _ you won’t forget this, Reybaby. Enjoy your time alone with it for the next few weeks. Just think...you can be as loud as you want to! Unless, of course, you’re getting that D on the regular now. I want all the deets when I get back! Love you!” _

Only Rose...And hanging her head, Rey is reminded of how she not only didn’t get any after her disastrous date with Snap, but she wouldn’t even be able to get it with Ben now, either. 

_ Not yet, Reybaby,  _ she can practically hear Rose saying with a waggle of her eyebrows.

Laughing to herself, she stashes both in her backpack and takes one last sweep through the dormitory before calling Maz for the ride she had offered her earlier. 

“Hi Maz, It’s Rey.” She chews at a cuticle around her thumb as she talks. She hates asking for help with a burning passion. But Maz had offered, after informing her that she was letting her off of work early to get packing. And she wouldn’t hear another word about it.

No one argues with Maz anyway. What she says goes. No matter how it’s delivered from all four feet 10 inches of her!

“Chickie! I know who this is, you silly girl." Maz chuckles to herself. "You're already packed up? You _are_ a quick one!”. 

Luke is a dear old friend, and he’d stopped in earlier in the week to rope her into letting Rey off early to pack and maybe offering to drive her over to Ben’s campus apartment.  It wasn’t a hard sell. She was fond of the girl.

“I am. Not much to pack, really. But I can hang out until you’re ready if you’re busy?” Back to chewing on another poor cuticle. 

“Nonsense! I’m ready right now.” 

Despite still being on the call with Rey, she starts shouting at her partner. “Lando! I’m heading out for a bit. Hold down the place till I get back!”

She zeroes back in on Rey. “I’ll be able to make it to your place in about a half-hour. That work for you?”

“Yep.” Rey bites a cuticle so low it starts to bleed. “Oh, um… and Maz?” She pauses a beat, trying to tamp down the feeling that she isn’t worthy of Maz walking away from her place of business for an hour to help her. “Thank you. For offering. And forcing me to accept.”

Maz chuckles. “You bet, kid. Now get your ass in gear. See you in thirty minutes.”

Ending the call, Rey starts dragging the trash bags out into the hall. With a final salute to her living space for the last few months, she slings her backpack over her shoulder and starts making the first of her trips down to wait for Maz.

Pulling up in front of the campus housing thirty minutes later, on the dot, Maz puts her old wood-paneled SUV into park. Rey watches as she attempts to get out to help load things into the back. 

“No ma’am. Get back in that driver's seat. I’ve got this.” Reaching her fingers under the hatchback, Rey lifts it and puts all of her possessions in the back. Wiping her hands together in satisfaction she closes the door and slides into the passenger seat. 

Maz puts one wrinkled hand up to stop Rey from thanking her. 

Excitement makes her bounce her knee incessantly on the way over. “For the love of gods, child, stop with the excessive knee bouncing. You’re making the seat nervous!”

A short ten-minute drive later, they arrive at the brick apartment building Rey gets to call home for the next few weeks. Surveying the parking lot suspiciously, an old habit, she looks for anything that she should maybe keep under her watch.

Lost in her examination, she misses Maz’s question as they pull into the parking lot of the apartment complex. 

“Chickie! What’s the apartment number?” 

Rey jolts. Shit! She forgot to call Luke, as he'd requested when she got out of work.  _ This is why you’re not worthy of help, Rey! Can’t even do the one little thing right. _

She reaches into her backpack for her phone. “I was supposed to call my advisor, Luke, when I got out of work to meet us over here. Dammit, Maz! I’m so sorry. Just drop me off while I…” 

Her words are cut off as Maz ignores her and muses aloud, “I’ve been here once before. Damn my old brain! Can’t remember which one Luke said...” She trails off.

Snagging on the fact that Maz has been here before  _ and  _ knows Luke, Rey turns to her boss. With eyes wide, she tentatively asks, “You know Luke?”

Maz urns to face Rey fully. “Yes, child. He’s a dear old friend. He stopped in earlier this week and filled me in. Small world, isn't it?” Her wizened eyes crinkle at the corners as she offers Rey a smirk with that piece of information. 

“Maz!” Rey practically shouts, “Road!” as she frantically gestures at the parking lot in front of her.

Chortling to herself, Maz redirects her gaze back to the cul-de-sac and continues her explanation. “Forgot to mention that, did I? Yes. And I gave him a call before I left and told him I was on my way to pick you up.” She tosses Rey a small smile as she is still circling around the parking lot. 

She doesn’t know how to process all of this but gets no time to reason it through as she spies Luke on their second pass around the lot.

“There he is!” 

Rey rolls down her window and calls out “Hey, Luke” to get his attention. 

Luke smiles and walks over to the spot Maz has finally pulled her truck into. 

Reaching out to intercept Maz in a hug, Maz is having none of that. Batting him away, she tuts, “Now, now, Lucas. I have no time for hugging. Let’s get this stuff unloaded so Rey can get settled, shall we? What apartment does-”

Luke cuts her off. “Rey is going to be on the second floor,” and he pauses a moment for effect. Then he continues, “In apartment 5 ABY.” He starts chuckling to himself, anticipating her barrage of incoming questions.

She just gapes at him, instead.

Luke turns to her, grabbing her milk crate and one of the trash bags. “This all there is?”

Taking her simple nod as his cue for no further comments on her belongings, he answers her unasked question. “My ne-  _ friend _ is really into Galaxy Wars. I told him you might have mentioned it a time or ten and he said you’d appreciate the number. It’s apparently the year-”

“Kylo Ren was born! Of course. I love, _ love _ Galaxy Wars! And that character! The way they ended his character arc was dirty,” she ends with a scowl. 

“Oh no! Not you, too.” He shakes his head and sighs. 

Rey instantly feels a kinship with the owner of this place and knows the next few weeks are going to be good. She can’t explain why, but she feels it.

They both turn to say goodbye to Maz. Rey knows better than to try to go give her a hug. “See you at work on Saturday, Rey.”

“Wait! I’m on the schedule for tomorrow, though,” she calls out, confused.

“No Missy, you’re not. Kaydel is covering your shift. Get settled in and take a breath for a day. You can pick up shifts closer to Christmas, I have no doubt.” Leaving no room for further discussion, Maz gets into her car, slams the door, and careens out of the parking lot. 

Luke just shakes his head and points at the stairwell. “This way.”

Once they are standing in front of the door, Luke sets the bag and crate down on the concrete of the landing to fish for the key. 

“B-the  _ owner _ , only asks that you replace any pantry items you use, clean the bathroom and kitchen thoroughly before leaving, and don’t touch any of his Galaxy Wars memorabilia.” Extending the keyring to her, Luke adds, “And I guess that’s it.”

“Oh, is that all?” Rey smirks. Clearly, the owner is a tad tightly wound. Maybe the kinship bond wasn’t quite as strong as she immediately thought.

“Oh! And laundry facilities are coin-operated and located in the basement.  _ Now  _ that’s all. You got it from here, kid?”

Luke shifts uncomfortably on his feet, clearly wanting to be out of there.

“Yep.” Looking down at her shoes to gather her thoughts, she doesn’t miss Luke clearing his throat.

Fixing him with a hesitant smile, Rey looks at him warmly. “Hey, thanks again, Luke. I really do appreciate you arranging this for me.” 

“Anytime, kid. And if you need anything while you’re here, you have my number. Have a great break, Rey.” He smiles before turning on his heel and making his way back down the stairwell.

Letting loose a huge exhale, Rey unlocks the door, letting herself into her newest home.

  
  


********

  
  


“Fucking dog!” Ben is practically tearing his hair out at the roots as he eyes the newest batch of dog vomit he’s going to have to clean up. The last few hours haven’t been kind. To him, or to Chewie. He’d almost feel sorry for the poor mutt, as clearly his stomach was not agreeing with the anesthesia he’d been given. 

But then, he remembers that  _ he’s  _ the human who has to clean up this shit. 

Well, not shit. But…

Interrupted from further internal ranting by The General’s ringtone, he pounds the screen with his thick finger. “I swear to Maker, mom! This damn dog has thrown up 4 times in the last 2 hours! What the hell?”

“Did I forget to tell you poor Chewie doesn’t respond well to the anesthesia they give him? Damn.” She snickers.

This last year has been a hard-won victory in Leia’s desperate struggle to get her son back into a relationship with her. After the devious ways Dick Snoke had wormed into Ben’s life over the last five years, isolating him from anyone who cared about him, she’d worked diligently to expose every way he’d led Ben deeper into darkness. 

Ben felt a rush of gratitude, again, that Leia had hung in there and kept trying. Even when he didn’t want to see the truth. And refused to. 

Expelling a deep pent up breath, he softens his tone. “You rat bastard.”

But there’s no heat to his words.

Leia only laughs at her son’s half-hearted attempt at calling her out for her antics.

“It should subside in the next hour. I promise. Hey, if it’s any consolation, I bought all the copies of Galaxy Wars just for you. You can grab one of those fancy beers you like so much, because  _ yes I also got those for you _ , and enjoy.”

Ben waits for her last barb.

“After, of course, Chewie’s done getting rid of all the contents of his stomach. Damn dog, indeed!”

_ Ah, there it was. _

He smiles to himself as her sarcasm comes roaring back. Never able to stay soft for long, his mother. 

“Yeah, okay Ma. I love you. See you tomorrow.” Ending the call with a flop onto the nearby couch, he leans his head back and closes his eyes. The mental and physical exhaustion of the past 24 hours catching up with him, at last.

And he gets to keep them closed for less than one minute before the dog starts barfing again.

  
  


********

  
  


Plunking down the two big garbage bags just inside the door, Rey turns to get the duffel and milk crate that Luke had set down just outside of it. Sliding those over the threshold, she pulls them over to the little entryway table and leaves them all there, for now. 

Closing the front door and locking it immediately, since old habits die hard, she makes a slow appraisal of the space before her. Slumping back against the door, her stress seems to slide off her shoulders as it truly sets in that the semester is over and she’s all moved. 

Between finding out she’d passed all of her exams with A’s and B’s -  _ Luke had actually laughed out loud at the possibility that she might not -  _ and knowing she had 18 days to stuff her face full of marshmallows and do...other things, she was in heaven. 

But first, she was itching to explore. Because now, she is definitely intrigued by the bits she’d learned about the owner of this place. Her eye is immediately drawn to the bookcase where the Galaxy Wars memorabilia Luke had mentioned was neatly arranged. One shelf was dedicated entirely to Kylo Ren. She takes in the Funko pops, action figures, and multiple comic books. 

Her fingers twitch with a desire to touch each item. But her respect for Luke wins out. She appreciates him, and all he's done for her, too much to go against what his friend had requested. 

Eyebrows shoot up as she notices the book titles lining the shelves below. There are many she not only recognizes but also loves: The entire _Harry Potter_ series, Mary Shelley’s _Frankenstein,_ Charles Dickens’ _Oliver Twist_ , and even Jane Austen’s _Pride and Prejudice_. 

_ H _ _ mmm, mystery owner… we seem to enjoy reading some of the same things. _

Their shared love of literature stops on the next shelf though, as she takes in multiple mathematics textbooks.  _ Ah well,  _ she thinks,  _ can’t win ‘em all. _

Turning to the small kitchen area, she makes her way to her favorite place in every living space she’d ever been in - the refrigerator. Opening it, she is shocked to find only bottled waters and a couple of condiments. She gives a little _harumph_ to that as she goes to retrieve her ancient cell phone.

_ Okay, so definitely groceries then, first  _ Punching the home button, once-twice... _ dammit this archaic thing-  _ and finally a third time, she pulls up her bank account app. Realizing she has just enough for marshmallows -  _ Maz always lets her take-home hot chocolate packets - _ cereal, milk, and hopefully enough ramen noodles to make it through her time here, she sets off to nose around the rest of the apartment. 

His living area is sparse but has a nice big cozy couch, coffee table, and large flat screen tv, along with the bookshelf she’d already surveyed. 

Ducking her head into the bathroom quickly, Rey catches a faint whiff of something familiar. And she can’t place it, but she knows she likes it. Seeing the necessary toilet, sink, and shower stall -  _ it will be nice to not have to share a bathroom for a little while, at least -  _ she pads across the hall to the bedroom.

The moment she steps through the doorway, she gasps. There, against the wall, is a queen-sized bed. Rey has never slept in a queen! And she can’t resist running and leaping onto the mattress. It’s so...soft.  _ Like a giant marshmallow,  _ she instantly thinks. 

Smiling dreamily, eyes closed, she flips herself over and splays her legs and arms out like she’s attempting to make a snow angel. Reveling in the softness of the comforter and the mattress and, well… all of it really, she takes a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. 

And feels the tears leaking out of her eyes as the events of the past week catch up with her.

Not about to let herself wallow, because that’s not what Rey Jackson does, she literally pulls herself up off the bed. Marching back to the front door, she slings the duffel strap over her shoulder and begins dragging the two bags down the hall to the bedroom. 

“Hello, home. Let’s get intimate, shall we?”

Opening up the dresser drawers, which the owner was kind enough to leave empty for her, she begins stuffing her undergarments in the top drawer. Reaching to pull the second one out, though, she finds it’s stuck.

_ Now this, I can take care of. _

Jiggling the drawer up and down gently she ducks to peer into it. Realizing she needs a flashlight she goes to retrieve her phone from her backpack. 

As the light beams into the back, she can see what appears to be a t-shirt lodged in back of the drawer. Maneuvering her arm back as far as she can, she is just able to grasp a tiny bit of the material between her fingers. 

Pulling it all the way out, she gives it a shake, and…

_ What the hell? _

The smells wafting from the t-shirt hit her at the same time the humongous size of it makes her eyes go wide.

_ No, no, no. NO NO! This cannot be… _

Dragging the shirt up to her nose, her eyes drift close as she inhales deeply. And almost instantly sneezes as the dust particles and wood shavings travel up. But along with those come the unmistakable scent of citrus and bergamot. 

Of Ben.

_ Holy shit. HOLY SHIT! Is this Ben’s apartment? This CAN NOT BE his apartment! What are the odds? _

Rey stumbles back over to the bed and flops down on her bottom, keeping a death grip on the shirt as each new thought tumbles rapid-fire through her brain. She’s trying to make sense of how this could have happened. 

Looking down at the t-shirt, she notices that it’s black.  _ Of course, it’s black.  _

She’s desperate to find anything else of his she can smell now. To truly determine if this is Ben Solo, her hot as fuck TA crush-who-she-almost-did-in-the-back-of-a-Lyft-ride’s apartment, of course. For science.

_ I mean, he did drill into us the importance of verifying data.  _

_ Oh, gods! I wish he’d drill me! _

As the possibility sinks in, she gets up and moves to yank open the closet door. She lets out a whine of disappointment as she opens it to find the small closet empty, save for two big plastic totes shoved in the back.  _ Interesting. I wonder if that’s where the rest of his clothes are? I should check. To verify. _

The few remaining brain cells that are functioning fire off a quick warning that these are not her things to go through. 

Sighing, she walks back over to the bed and sits back down heavily.  _ Fuck me!  _

It dawns on Rey, as the thought flits through her head, that she can do just that. There is not a single soul around and she can tromp through the apartment naked as the day she was born if she so chooses.

This thought sends a thrill down her spine, as she considers walking naked through Ben’s apartment.  _ Oh, if only he were here, too!  _

Without even being aware of it, the hand not currently clinging for dear life to his shirt has snaked down into the waistband of her jeans. She lets out a soft sigh as she inhales his scent again and imagines it’s Ben’s broad shoulders hovering above her. Telling her how wet she is for him.

_ Fuck! She really is wet.  _

Breaking her tight-fisted hold on the t-shirt just long enough to unbutton her jeans, she tugs both them and her hipsters down her legs. Flinging them in the direction of the dresser, she hisses as the cool air makes contact with her increasingly wet center. 

Using two fingers to gather her wetness and circle her clit in increasingly faster movements, Rey pictures Ben’s hands,  _ those fucking monster-sized hands,  _ and briefly wonders if just one of Ben’s fingers could replace her two. 

Moaning in earnest now, she switches to teasing her clit with her thumb as she slides three of her fingers down to tease at her opening. She can hear his velvety voice saying, “ _ Have a pleasurable break, Ms. Jackson,”.  _

Pumping her fingers in and out of her hole, she keeps firm pressure on her clit as her orgasm builds. Hearing the filthy squelching noises as she thrusts in and out of herself, she takes one deep inhale of Ben’s shirt and feels herself just on the edge. 

The memory of the feel of his hard cock grinding up into her in the back seat of their ride the other night is what sends her over. Legs spasm outward as she rides out the most intense orgasm she’s ever given herself. She clenches her legs together in an attempt to squeeze out every last pulsing sensation before finally splaying her legs lazily onto the mattress while she catches her breath.

_ Well. If these are the sorts of orgasms I’m going to be able to achieve, this is going to be a very pleasurable break, indeed.  _ Snorting to herself, she tucks Ben’s shirt under the pillow, before heading off to the bathroom to test out that water pressure.

She doesn’t make herself come again to thoughts of Ben showering in there. With her.

She doesn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ME: So, about that smut...
> 
> BRAIN: _I've started it. Pipe down._
> 
> ME: Started as in... actually written down scenes with a penis and vagina and-
> 
> BRAIN: _I said what I said._


	6. Confirmation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New data is revealed. Presents are opened. Pancakes and marshmallows are consumed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, scent kink is a thing, right? Because it is for “people”. But definitely for Rey. 
> 
> Also, we are no longer paying attention to my inability to conduct an accurate chapter count. _These are not the chapters you are looking for._

“Don’t tell Mom I’m letting you on the couch with me,” Ben whispers conspiratorially to the canine currently dozing with his head on Ben’s thigh. 

The rotten dog had alternated between staring at the wall, loopy as fuckall, and vomiting for two more hours after he’d hung up with The General yesterday. 

But today, they’re both at peace and lounging on the couch watching the final Galaxy Wars movie. Well, Ben is watching—Chewie is drooling. 

And really, Ben is only half-watching, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of Rey Jackson. He wonders what she’s going to be doing over the break and if she’s thinking about him at all. He recalls their last car ride and realizes he needs to shift this train of thought before he’s forced to get up and take care of a potential uprising in his pants.

He strokes the scruff of the old sheepdog mindlessly. The sound of the front door opening snaps both their heads up.

Leia walks in to find both the bane of her existence and the reason for it laying on the couch together. 

“Busted, busters.” She chuckles softly.

Ben can only cringe at the absurdity of the dad joke coming out of his mother’s mouth.

Leaving her carry-on by the door, she walks over and promptly plops down on the couch next to them both. Leaning her head back, she finally takes a second to exhale and then turns to Ben.

She takes in his profile,  _ so strong, like his father’s,  _ while he’s still enthralled by a particular scene in the final Galaxy Wars movie. 

But she doesn’t get to look for long.

“Mom, you’re staring. It’s weird.”

“What? Can’t I admire my son’s face? I made half that face, you know.”

Rolling his eyes like he’s still a teenager, he informs her, “28 years and you still know how to make me cringe more than anyone I know.”

Sighing, she heaves up off the couch. “Listen Benny boy. I am now, and always will be, your mother. That gives me rights. Rights to look lovingly upon the face of my son. Rights to slap you when you sass me…”

Ben puts his hand up to mock salute her. “Yes ma’am.”   
  
She takes the opportunity to show him she means business as she slaps his upper arm with more oomf than you’d imagine a woman her age could.

“Ow, that hurt!”

Snorting at his wimpy retort, she sighs and closes her eyes for a moment. “I know we need to talk battle strategy regarding Snoke, but right now? I’m too damn tired from that flight. I’m going to bed.” 

Still rubbing at the spot she’d smacked, he disagrees. “Your smack certainly didn’t feel like it came from someone who’s tired.” But his soft smile belies any actual affront.

Ben brings his hand up to his forehead again, but she narrows her eyes and points a finger at him. “Don’t mock me, Son.”

Coming from her lips, it was something he was growing to love hearing again. 

Softening her gaze, she throws, “And, I expect your delicious pancakes in the morning. Do I make myself clear?” over her shoulder as she makes her way up the stairs. 

“Yes ma’am,” he whispers to her retreating back.

  
  


****

  
  


Rey has been blissfully laying like a starfish in the middle of Ben’s—no, her bed, every night for two weeks now. She never wants to leave. Between the fact that her adoration for his bed now supersedes even her memories of what lies beneath those chinos of his, and the fact that she’s only cried out of loneliness twice, Rey feels a cautious optimism about life. 

Christmas is tomorrow. She’s hung one of the silly Christmas themed socks Rose had left her as part of her gift as a stocking on Ben’s bookcase. Rey has it on good authority that she’s getting a new pack of batteries in her stocking. 

It had been a long day on her feet at work. No one wanted to cook the day before a holiday, apparently. Freshly showered, she pads to the kitchen to make hot chocolate. 

Humming to herself, Rey tears the top of the packet and pours the chocolatey powder into a Galaxy Wars mug she’d found. She’d diligently used it, and washed it out, every day. It made her feel even closer to Ben knowing that he’d put his lips on the same mug.  _ Those plush lips... _

Pouring the hot water from the tea kettle into the mug, she starts stirring the spoon around to dissolve the contents of the packet and reminisces about the few short weeks she’s had here.

She’d broken down and opened one,  _ just one,  _ of the big plastic storage totes in Ben’s closet, after all. But it only confirmed what she suspected. This was definitely his apartment.

She,  _ for sure _ , did not spend an hour on the floor in front of the closet inhaling every item in the tub. Twice. 

And then getting herself off. 

More than twice. 

The sweatshirt she was currently wearing was also,  _ for sure,  _ not hers. And it definitely needed to be washed at some point.  _ But then it won’t smell like Ben,  _ she tells herself every time she retrieves it from the pile of dirty clothes and changes her mind about laundering it.

Coming back to herself with a start, she decides to finish watching the second galaxy wars movie and enjoy a little more hot chocolate with her marshmallows before bed. She’s getting down to the last few handfuls, though, so she’s started rationing them out. 

Reclining on the couch, it doesn’t take long to polish off her cocoa,  _ the marshmallows were long gone.  _ The moment Kylo Ben’s hulking form popped up onto the screen again, she smiled to herself as she easily identified some of the same characteristics in her Ben. Actually, a lot of the same exact characteristics.  _ Well, I definitely have a type.  _

Grabbing a fistful of Ben’s sweatshirt, Rey inhales for any remaining scent of him she can. Faintly detecting a little of the spicy notes she catches whenever he’s near, is enough to send a warmth straight down to her cunt. She closes her eyes and can vividly see Ben holding her in a bridal carry...

Getting up, Rey decides it’s time for a little break.  _ Might as well use up the last of whatever juice is left in those batteries.  _ She pads back down the hall, wet already.

  
  
  


****

  
  


“Dammit! How did my son get all his father’s good looks  _ and  _ pancake cooking skills? How?!” The General is such a fan of Ben’s pancakes that he’d gotten up a little earlier to make extra batter, just for her.

Judging by Leia’s reaction to her latest mouthful of flapjacks, he’s feeling good about that decision. 

But, a worried look crosses his face, erasing the gentle smile he’d just had in place. 

Sensing the abrupt shift in his demeanor, she looks up. “I know, I know. Let me finish this last one and then we’ll take our coffee into the living room and talk Snoke.” She cringes even uttering his name. “We should probably check on the furry patient, anyway.” 

Shoving a last big bite into her mouth, she brings her plate to the sink, grabbing his on the way over. “Let’s leave these.” 

Shooing him off to the living room, she turns to start making them another cup of coffee. 

“I’ll go check on the furball.” Ben starts heading off into the other room when Leia stops him in his tracks.

“I’m really glad you’re here, Son. I’ve missed this—you. I’m just…” Letting her words go silent, she seems to be struggling to keep her composure. 

Deciding to put her out of her misery, Ben chuckles. “Have I really reduced The General to a puddle of emotion over one good batch of pancakes?”

Swatting at him with the dishtowel in her hand, she waves him off. “Oh, go on!”

A minute later, settling in on the couch next to her son, The General hands him his cup of coffee. “The investigator was able to confirm that Palpatine did indeed have an illegitimate grandchild. And that she was indeed in the 2003 study.”

“It was a girl, then. Gods, mom! Who would let a child languish in the foster care system like that? Not claim her?” Ben’s mind instantly snaps to an image of that little marshmallow girl and her soulful little eyes, cheeks crammed full. 

Leia interrupts his thoughts. “Son, I have to admit I’m surprised that Palpatine and Snoke didn’t account for modern technology’s ability to data-mine coming to bite them in the ass. Or, maybe, that was exactly what Snoke was banking on all along.”

Putting her finger to her chin, she starts tapping while she thinks.

“What do you mean?” Ben’s not sure he wants the answer to come out of her mouth.

He thinks he already knows, anyway.

“Maybe Snoke knew that if  _ you _ were the one to come across any of this, you’d be loath to bring it to light. Maybe, he was betting you’d want to keep yourself distanced from anything that could link you to my father—especially information that could sully  _ your own _ name in any way.”

He did know the answer, after all. 

Ben sifts through what Leia just gave voice to. The confirmation he needed to bring down his mentor was also an affirmation that the original Marshmallow experiment, and all of the studies associated with it since then, would be invalidated. 

Worse, and what made his heart lurch at the time Ben discovered the possibility of all of this, it would cast his grandfather in an even worse light due to his involvement with it. 

And this is what currently occupied that anxious part of Ben’s brain. What does this mean for him? He’d worked so damn hard to keep his name out of this department. 

To know, now, that the only reason his mentor took him under his wing so quickly and eagerly was to have him under his thumb...it made Ben’s blood boil all over again. 

As if she could read his very thoughts, Leia reached over and laid a comforting hand on his forearm. “Son. You could not have known. None of us could. Do not beat yourself up over your involvement in this. We’re gonna nail this asshole!  _ And  _ his cronies!”

Releasing a pent up breath of agitation, he closes his eyes and leans his head against the back of the couch. “How?”

“Well, for one thing, we need a bit more time while my PI gets some eyewitness accounting nailed down. And, I suspect, he’ll uncover a few more nasty surprises as he sorts through this mess. The only information he’s been able to verify, so far, is the name of the child.”

  
  


****

  
  


Christmas day dawns clear and bright, with not a single snowflake in sight. Rey feels slightly disappointed. She has this long-standing holiday fantasy that she’s blissfully sipping hot cocoa with her feet up by a roaring fire, while snow falls softly outside. This Christmas, she can’t help but add the image of herself snuggled into Ben’s side on this very couch. 

Someday…maybe. That cautious optimism dares to rear its head at the thought.

  
Forcing herself to hold off on opening her meager little presents for just a little longer, she tries to busy herself in the kitchen. Clearing her cereal bowl and rinsing it out takes no time at all. So, she decided to make herself a cold mocha with the large iced coffee she’d brought home from the cafe’ yesterday. Knowing she was down to her last 5 marshmallows, she relents and allows herself to dump them all in, since it  _ is  _ Christmas.

The ring of her cell phone keeps her from opening the few gifts, from Maz, Rose, Finn and Poe, waiting for her under the tree.

But the person on the other end is an even bigger gift. 

“ROSIE!!!”   
  
“Merry Christmas babe! How’s my girl?” Rose sounds effusive. Even more so than usual. 

“I was just about to open my gifts. But I’d much rather talk to you! How is it? How’s skiing going? Anything  _ extra exciting  _ happen?” Rey spits out each question rapid-fire, giving poor Rose not a second in between to answer.

“Slow down there, tiger! Aaaactually...I want all the deets from YOU! How was the date? Get that D?”

With a heavy sigh, Rey slumps down onto the couch, iced mocha is forgotten as she relays what ended up happening that night. And then right on up through finding herself, even now, camped out in Ben’s apartment.

Once the mutual shrieking simmered down, they took turns answering each other’s questions.

“No, he hasn’t asked yet.” is the most important one from Rose.

And, “Yes, I’ve blown through quite a few batteries,” from Rey. 

Rose began wrapping up the call, as Rey could hear Armie calling for her in the background. “Reybaby, go get my present. Quick! I want you to open it while I’m on the phone with you.”

Rey did as Rose bid and when she was tucked back up on the couch with it, she put Rose on speaker so she could talk and unwrap. 

Tearing into the package slowly, savoring the moment, she got to a non-descript box. Rose kept encouraging her along. Peeling back the tissue paper, she revealed a new bag of marshmallows. 

“Oh, Rosie! I just finished off the last of them. You are a Christmas angel!”

Rose chuckled. “That’s not all, silly! Look underneath them.”

As soon as she did, a beautiful framed photo of Rose, Finn, and Rey came into view. Rey couldn’t stop the little snuffle that escaped her.

“Oh, babe… don’t cry, please. It’s supposed to be a good thing. Aw shit…”

“No no, it is. I’m just… you guys are just...I love you Rosie. That’s all. I just...love you.” Rey wipes her nose with the sleeve of her sweatshirt before she thinks about it.

A vehement, “Oh shit!” comes out of her mouth when she realizes that she just snotted on Ben’s sweatshirt. And now she’ll  _ have to  _ wash it soon.

“What? What’s wrong!” Rose is worried about her girl there all alone.

Rey admits her newfound intimacy with one of Ben’s sweatshirts and Rose guffaws at that. Snorting into the phone, she says her goodbyes as Armie calls for her a little more impatiently this time.

No sooner does she hang up than the thing starts ringing, again—Finn, this time. Their conversation goes much the same way. He tells her to open her present after they get off the phone, preferring to chat about the possibilities between her and Ben once he got back into town. 

Hanging up the phone an hour later, Rey feels like it’s been a pretty great start to Christmas day. Even without any actual bodies to hug.

  
  


****

  
  


Leia and Ben talked about his need to keep a low profile while Amilyn kept Snoke off his back so her PI could continue to round up all that he needed to make their allegations airtight. 

And then, they decided to table all talk about the whole ordeal until after Christmas day. 

Which meant, a couple of cut-throat games of scrabble instead. And eating too much sugar, which Ben rarely did. And being reminded that he had the best gift right here in a reincarnated relationship with his mother.

The morning after Christmas, Ben was lounging on the couch, running a hand absentmindedly through Chewie’s mane, wondering what Rey was up to when Leia emerged from the kitchen with her game face on.

“So, the investigator will need to start with the child, I’m thinking. Rey Jackson. That’s the name my contact gave me for Palpatine’s grandchild that was in the study. Unusual name for a girl, huh?”

Ben’s entire body stiffens as he bolts upright. “What did you just say?”

“I said, unusual name for-”.

“No! Not that part. What was her name?” Ben’s eyes are bugging out of his head and Leia grows concerned instantly.

“Ben, honey, are you okay? What-”.

“The name, mom! What was it.” Agitation bleeds through his words as his hand shuffles through his hair.

“Rey Jackson.” Leia sits gingerly on the couch at the opposite end to a visibly rattled Ben. “What is it, son?”

Bracing his hands on his knees, he drags in an uneven breath. “That’s her… the girl you’ve heard so much about this last few days, mom. Rey is REY!”

Both of them are shocked into quiet for a moment after that. The coincidences starting to feel like some invisible force drawing Rey and Ben toward each other time and again, lately.

And then, “Does she know who she is, do you think?”

Ben’s raven locks shake violently from side to side with the movement of his head. “No! There’s no way she has a clue.”

“Ben, you have to tell her. Don’t let her find out in some cruel way. Or worse! If Snoke gets wind of our investigation…”   
  
But Ben is already up and hurriedly making his way to his room to start packing. “I know what I have to do, mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: For my next chapter, I am going to...
> 
> _Brain: No. We're not doing this again._
> 
> Me: Listen, you. I'm perfectly capable of getting my stuff together and getting us to the steamy parts.
> 
> _Brain:_


	7. Verification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get steamy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please accept this offering of smut. Cue _The Lion King_ music... it's time.
> 
> If smut is not your thing, you can skip this chapter with no loss of context. We're just earning our E rating here. That's all. Nothing to see here folks. These are not the droids you're looking for. 
> 
> But, if they are...read on!
> 
> Also, I continue to have no ability to reasonably estimate chapter count. This is just who I am now.

Rey’s little vibrator has been working overtime these last few weeks. If her battery replacement rate is any indication, anyway. Being in Ben’s apartment has lit up her libido like she never could have imagined. And she has imagined  _ plenty _ this last few weeks.

She flies home from work each day, or night, eager to jump into the shower. And work herself up to thoughts of him in there, with her. She works the soapy lather up and across her body, imagining one of his huge hands covering her pert tits entirely. She rolls a nipple and moans to the image of him so eager to take it in his mouth, that he barely takes the time to let the water wash the soap away before his head dips down to claim it.

It's one of these very scenarios Rey envisions one afternoon on one of her last few days in his shower. She’d been slowly building herself up to a blissful orgasm this afternoon. An image of Ben’s other hand cupping her cunt as she strokes herself makes her shuddered moaning even louder. 

Enjoying the solitude and ability to be as noisy as she wants to be has given Rey a sense of abandon that only heightens her pleasure. So much so that she doesn’t hear the slam of the front door.

  
  
  


****

  
  
  


Ben has made it to his apartment complex in record time. He’s eager to get his stuff inside so he can call Rey. Unlocking the door, he strides in and throws his duffel bag down where he stands. 

So focused on what he needs to do next, Ben doesn’t notice the stocking hung up on his bookshelf. Or the half-opened bag of marshmallows on the kitchen counter. Or that the shower is running.

But it begins to register as he hears moaning. Female moaning. And panting. And it’s coming from the bathroom. Where his ears can also detect the pitter-patter of the jet setting in his shower. 

It’s only as he starts stomping down the hallway that he draws up short, remembering now that Luke had convinced him to let some student stay while he was visiting The General.

Ray. He recalls the name now.

_ What the fuck? Is this guy having sex in his shower?  _

It starts to dawn on Ben that he’s intruding on this guy’s privacy, despite the fact that he’s in his own damn apartment. He retreats to the living room. Plunking himself down onto the couch with a huff, he tries to think through what to do next. 

But the moans are getting louder. 

And then he hears his name. 

_ Seriously? Is this guy really having a threesome in his shower?  _ Maybe he should make a run to the store to pick up industrial strength cleaning supplies. 

That thought is interrupted as whoever is doing the moaning very obviously begins orgasming and crying out “Oh Ben, OH FUCK!”

_ Well, whoever  _ this  _ Ben is sure as hell is enjoying himself! _

Rolling his lips together into a thin line, he stews for a moment as the shower stops running. Jolted into reality by the sudden quiet, he realizes that if he doesn’t get up and leave right now, he’s going to be caught in an even more awkward situation.

Standing, he starts tiptoeing to the front door. He makes it less than a handful of steps when one of the shower participants emerges from the bathroom and lets loose an ear-piercing scream.

Covering his ears, but keeping his back firmly to them, Ben attempts to explain. “I know you’re not going to believe me, but this is actually my apartment.” 

Silence.

He barrels on to fill the uncomfortable lull. “Really. I’m sorry I came back early without any-”

“B-Ben?”

His eyes shoot up toward the ceiling as his brain desperately tries to make sense of the female voice he’s almost certain he just heard. The tell-tale lilt was really plenty of information. But, his brain would prefer it not make sense given what he’d just heard taking place in the bathroom. 

Refusing to believe it can be her until he confirms it, Ben keeps his back to the woman. His shoulders have started inching up towards his ears. “Rey?”

“Ben, what are you doing here? I mean, I know what you’re doing  _ here... _ you know, in your apartment. But Luke said you wouldn’t be back for another few days?”

Disappointment sets in as Ben mistakes the entire situation he just overheard. Thinking his Rey was part of the shenanigans going on in the bathroom with the other Ray, he sighs heavily. Shoulders drooping, he keeps his back to her. Only now, it’s so she won’t be able to see the crestfallen emotions he’s feeling sweeping across his face.

“I’ll um… I’m going to go so you guys can all get cleaned up. Could you, um...could you text me everyone is... when it’s safe for me to come back to my apartment?” 

Wincing at what he has to say next, and the situation he now finds himself in, Ben continues. “I um… could you, um, stay put when you guys get-”

Rey cuts him off.

  
  
“Who is ‘everyone' ? Why do you keep saying ‘ _ you guys _ ’?”

Her confusion is evident in her tone. 

It takes her a second.

And then her face reddens, as she puts the pieces together. 

_ He must have heard me in the bathroom. Oh no! No no no!  _

But embarrassment is replaced with clarity as she realizes what Ben must think. Which quickly morphs into anger because  _ why would he even think that she would do that after what happened between them?  _

She starts walking down the hall toward him. 

“Ben, could you please turn around? I do have a towel on, you know," Rey manages to bite out.

It’s the annoyance in her tone that filters through first. The curiosity trails in after. But his lingering disappointment tamps it all down. 

“I’d really rather not do this right now. Can you go put on a shirt, or something?”

Hands on hips, Rey’s ire is now fully raised. “Ben. Seriously. This is getting ridiculous. Turn around so we can talk about this. Please!”

For an uncomfortable number of seconds, Ben internally debates just walking out the door. It would be far less agonizing than having to see her face, flushed, from...whatever the hell they were all just doing in there. _And what's taking the rest of them so long to come out of the damn bathroom?_

Not waiting another second for him to misunderstand this situation any more than he already had, though, Rey has started moving toward him. Hearing her footsteps, he turns.

_ Yep. Flushed as fuck. _

Taking in the sadness of his eyes and the droop of his usually broad shoulder-line, Rey isn’t letting Ben have this disappointing moment. 

“Yes, Benjamin. My face is flushed because I just orgasmed. In your shower. By MYSELF!”

His eyebrows shoot up. It takes him only a second to understand why she’s sharing that with him.

_ Ah, shit. He really got this all wrong, didn’t he. _

But Rey’s not finished and she’s now fully pissed off. “And yes, I was moaning  _ your  _ name, Ben.  _ Yours!  _ Because I was imagining  _ you  _ in there. With me.”

Ben’s cock chooses that moment to make its presence known by twitching in his pants. He hopes Rey doesn’t notice.

  
She does.

Taking a step closer to him -  _ ooh, she’s still angry -  _ she pins him with a glare that would make any professor proud.

Poking into his chest, she lets him have it. “You listen here, mister. I don’t know what you _thought_ was going on in that shower, but nothing like it was. And even if it _was_ , you have zero right to judge me—”

Relief floods his body, followed so quickly by arousal that he leans down and shuts Rey up with a kiss that makes her toes curl where she stands. 

Without realizing it, her pointed finger has turned into a fist grabbing at the front of Ben’s t-shirt. She’s lost in the softness of his plush lips against hers. 

Until his tongue darts out to trace the seam of them. 

Sputtering, her index finger returns to its pointing position. “Not so fast! You owe me an apology, Ben.”

He breaks away and lightly squeezes her upper arms. Ducking his head down a bit to look into her eyes, he wants her to see how sincerely he knows he messed this up.

“Rey, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I instantly went to the worst-case scenario. I wasn’t judging you, I promise. I just...I like you. A lot. I didn’t want what was going through my head to be true. But my—”

It’s Rey’s turn to cut him off. Fisting his shirt again, she draws up on her tippy toes to get at his mouth. She smiles against his lips and mumbles, “Apology accepted.”

Mumbling his thanks against her lips, she startles when Ben abruptly pulls his lips from hers.

“Rey, wait. We need to talk. I-”

Not wanting to hear what he has to say, because that means she has to wait even longer to finally get at what’s under those chinos, she strains her lips back toward the plushness of his.

But his arms stretch out, holding her off.

“Dammit, Ben! I want you. We were interrupted last time in the car and I don’t want to wait anymore.”

This last pronouncement is delivered with a petulant little stamp of her foot. 

Chuckling at her impatience, he tries one more time to do the noble thing first. It's not easy, though. _She's so damned cute when she's fired up!_

“Rey, I’m back early because I have something important to share with you.”

Shaking her head violently back and forth, she covers her ears. “You aren’t my professor anymore, Ben. And I passed the class. What else is there to tell me? And honestly! Can’t it wait? Don’t you  _ want it  _ to wait? Because I really, really do.”

When she stops the movement of her head long enough to take him in, his dark eyebrows are quirked together adorably. Ben looks like a hesitant puppy. If it weren’t for the fact that she could feel his heartbeat thudding rapid-fire under her fists, she’d think he didn’t want this. 

Want her.

Groaning, he grasps her hips and pulls her back toward him. Liking this change in conversation already, Rey takes the last remaining step between them, leaving no space between any part of their bodies. 

Now he can't think worth a damn.

“Rey," he grits out, trying to hang onto that one last shred of logic amidst the cloud of lust. "Are you sure...”

“Yep!” She lets that p sound pop with her mouth ending in a little o shape. This captivates Ben. He sees the outline of her mouth and wonders how in the worlds he didn't make the connection before. It was her. It was always her. And he finally understands why she always felt so familiar to him. 

  
But he’ll talk to her about that later. 

Now, Ben needs to taste her lips. And realizes he’d like to taste her everywhere he can get his mouth.

Rey’s cheeks flush all over again as he has zeroed in on her lips like an animal stalking its prey. 

Vaguely aware of the towel still wrapped around her body, Ben’s arms encircle her waist and he starts gently pushing her back down the hallway toward his bedroom as he licks into her mouth. Stumbling along the short distance, Rey finally gives up trying to keep up with him and jumps up into his arms without warning, legs wrapping around his waist.

Catching her just barely, Ben gasps as the heat of her wet core connects with the front of his already tented pants. It makes Rey smile into their kiss.

“Weren’t expecting that, were you, Professor Solo?”

That name does something for Ben beyond even their bodily connection. Every neuron in his brain seems to fire off with excitement and arousal at the same time as his cock surges toward the source of her heat.

His answering grunt does everything to Rey. 

Realizing her towel is staying on only because they are connected chest to chest, she leans back just enough, as he steps over the threshold into his bedroom, that it can fall away from her body. As it drops to the floor, Ben almost trips over it, but recovers into a stumble that lands them both onto the bed with an “Oof!” from each of them at the same time.

Their simultaneous laughter gives them enough time to catch a breath and take each other in for a moment.

“Hold on, let me grab a condom out of the—”

“My last testing I was negative for everything. You?”

“Yeah. Yes. I’m so ready, Rey. Gods, you have no idea!”

“Ben?” She strokes her thumb across that unfairly plump bottom lip of his and whispers, “Please, touch me.”

Stroking his fingers across her forehead to wipe away a few strands of wet hair there, he lets out a soft sigh. “Rey, you are so fucking beautiful.”

“Oh, the eloquence, Professor!” One cocked eyebrow accompanies her sexy little smirk.

His dick jumps in his pants again at hearing that word come out of her mouth so wickedly. 

And Rey,  _ oh, she’s filing this little piece of information away, _ reaches down to lightly trace the outline of his erection between them. She decides that the moan her touch brings out of him is something she’d like to hear more of. 

Right now, in fact.

She begins to stroke his cock with more pressure. But Ben grabs her wrist after only a few pumps of her hand and stills her. “You can’t do that, sweetheart. Not if I...Rey— I want to be inside of you and there’s no  _ way  _ I’ll last if you keep that up.”

It’s the “sweetheart” that grabs her heart and squeezes it like a vice. It reminds her why she likes this man so damn much. He makes her feel seen. Like she matters. 

To him, at least, she absolutely knows she does.

“You…” and at this, she strains her head up and whispers into the shell of his ear, “Professor…”. Reclining her head back onto the pillow, she peers up at him through her lashes and finishes her thought with a sly grin, “Are severely overdressed.”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

Ben stands and lifts his t-shirt up and over his head with one hand.

Propped up on her elbows, the sight of the creamy expanse of Ben’s muscled chest, and his ability to whip off his shirt one-handed makes her clench her thighs together.

  
It’s Ben’s turn to smirk. “I’m going to help you with that little problem you seem to be having, Miss Jackson.”

“Oh don’t get ahead of yourself, Ben. You still have pants on.”

He loves her cheeky spirit. And sarcasm.

But the only -asm he wants right now is the org- kind. 

Unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, he hooks his thumbs underneath both them and his boxers and slides them down quickly. Kicking them off and across the room, he crawls up onto the bed. Keeping his knees on the outsides of Rey’s thighs, he trails his hands teasingly up the insides of them as he makes his way up to her.

She drinks in how proportional he is...everwhere, and nearly whimpers in anticipation.

“Gods, Ben, I forgot how huge your hands are.”

He shows just a hint of dimple as he caresses the underside of her breasts. Hands not quite where Rey wants them most. 

But knowingly so, if his smirk is any indication.

“Where do you want my hands, Rey? Tell me.”

His honeyed voice is raspy with want. 

Her answer is spit out in much the same tone.

“Anywhere. Everywhere. Ben, please, just put those hands somewhere!”

Stretching just his fingers, his hands so large that he can leave the palms exactly where they are under each perfect mounded handful, he uses thumbs and forefingers to lightly pinch and roll her nipples, causing her to arch into his hands.

“More. Please, Ben, more!”

Replacing his fingers with his mouth, he gently scrapes his teeth against the distended bud of one and then the other, following with dizzying swirls of his tongue around each. 

Rey’s pants are growing more labored, and her squirming has his cock hard and aching to enter her.

Dragging his tongue down the planes of her stomach, he looks up at her through the hair that has flopped roguishly over his eyes. “I want to taste you, Rey.”

“Nope. Later. I need you inside me, Ben. Now. Like, three weeks ago.”

And who is Ben to deny her what she wants?

Rearing up on his knees, Ben takes his cock in hand and gives it a firm pump, smearing the precum that’s leaked from the tip to give him extra lubrication. 

Rey watches him mesmerized by how thick and long he is, already wet for how deliciously she knows he’s going to stretch and fill her.

_ Finally, she’s going to get that D, and OH, what a D it is! _

Impatience sets in and Rey takes two fingers to start lazily circling her clit. 

The growl that emits from Ben’s mouth sends a gush of wetness from Rey’s cunt and she feels like she’s going to explode if he doesn’t get inside her this minute. 

“Ben!”

His eyes focus on her chest, on the pretty flush that has spread from her face down toward her perfect little tits. Slowly dragging his cock through her folds, they both gasp as his head bumps against her sensitive clit. 

Propping himself up on his forearms, he positions himself at her entrance and slowly starts inching into her. 

“You’re so wet, Rey. Fuck!” Rocking himself in and out, slowly, he's determined to make each drag and slide along the walls of her cunt, last. 

“For you Ben. Gods, you make me so fucking wet, you have no idea!”

Caging Rey’s head in between his elbows, he strokes her cheeks with his thumbs as he looks into her eyes. She stares back at him with a longing he understands deep in his soul. 

Bottoming out, Ben groans. It feels perfect. Rey feels perfect. Like she was meant for him. 

Scraping her nails lightly up the muscles in his back, she reaches for his neck and drags his lips down for a needy wet kiss. Rey angles her hips upwards to feel him deeper, silently begging him for more.

Ben obliges by using a hand to bring one of her knees up to her chest, giving him deeper access. "You're fucking perfect, Rey."

“You…” Rey pants out. “You feel so good Ben. I’m so full. So full of you.”

This sends Ben’s movements into overdrive, chasing the feeling her hot wet cunt provides as he slides into and just nearly out of her. Every time he hits a particular spot, Rey moans out her bliss and clenches down on him. He commits that spot to memory and aims for it relentlessly.

“Sweetheart, I’m not gonna last. You feel too fucking good when you do that. I want you to come with me. Show me. Show me what you like.”

Rey guides his thumb to her clit and barely has the sense to move it at the speed and direction she needs. It won’t take much. She knows she’s already on the edge.

As they both begin erratically thrusting toward one another, Rey closes her eyes to the waves of her orgasm as it starts rolling through her. Ben shouts out his climax and Rey follows, pulsing around him as she milks him through every last twitch inside of her. 

Collapsing over to her side, so he doesn’t crush the most perfect girl in the world, Ben gives a last satisfied grunt and wills his heart to start calming down. 

Rey lays, legs spent and arms akimbo, trying to regain control over her own breathing. She turns her head to look at him, but Ben’s already fondly looking back at her. Rolling over, she throws a leg over his thighs and starts tracing a hand over one very well-formed pectoral. 

“Look at you, Professor Solo. Statistically speaking, what are the odds that a Greek god lay beneath those button-downs and chinos?”

Blushing to the tips of his overly large ears peeking out from his raven locks, he gives Rey a sheepish grin.

“I am an anomaly, apparently.”

“ _My_ anomaly, thankyouverymuch.”

“Yes,” his dimpled grin spans nearly the width of his face now, “ _your_ anomaly.” 

Feeling an uncomfortable lump under the pillow he’s collapsed upon, Ben reaches under it, his eyebrows shooting up in confusion. Rey watches in horror as he pulls out his sweatshirt.

Confusion turns to concern as he spies the worried look and newly pink tint on Rey’s face.

“Um, I can explain.” 

Chuckling softly, he says, “I can’t wait to hear this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Brain: It is about damn time!_
> 
> Me: I _told you_ I'd get it out.
> 
> _Brain: Not to be pushy or anything but, can we talk about that chapter count?_
> 
> Me: 
> 
> _Brain: Well, that went well._


	8. Causation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben pauses while he and Rey discuss causes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're closing in! We are at the penultimate chapter. (I had to look that up to make sure I was using it the correct way because who even uses that word?) I'm going to be sad to see these two walk off into the sunset together. _The way TROS should have ended. Amiright?_
> 
> There is the briefest (four-sentence paragraph) mention of Rey being deprived of food when she was a foster child. If that might trigger you, skip the paragraph that begins with, _The foster family at the time..._

One steamy shower -  _ both kinds, thank you _ \- and two hours later, Ben lures Rey out to the living room with the promise of “more of that later” to finally talk to her. She’d admitted her shock at discovering that she was in his apartment and then rifling through a tote in his closet for confirmation.

“Once I spied your sweatshirt, I had to kind of, well...smell it. To be sure, of course.” Her next admission was uttered with a refusal to meet his eyes. “Because, um, you have a smell.” Looking up at him in alarm that he might take that the wrong way, Rey rushed on to finish that thought. “That’s unique to you. And really,  _ really  _ good. So, um, yeah...that’s the data I needed to confirm it was your apartment.”

Instead of being angry at his privacy being violated, he surprised Rey once again with his gentle, teasing response.

“I’m impressed you attempted to validate your findings. See? You were my star student, after all.”

His compliment sends a rosy blush sweeping across the freckles high on her cheekbones. Ben watches in fascination, finding himself wanting to lick each one as it is highlighted.

Sitting on the couch in just panties and his sweatshirt,  _ and he’s really starting to worry Rey’s never going to take it off and wash it,  _ they sit cross-legged, facing each other. He’s trying to remember they need to have a serious conversation, but her long, lean legs are distracting. 

_ Business first. _

Determined now to quit stalling, Ben grabs her hand. He strokes his thumbs across the tops of her knuckles.

Rey relaxes into his touch. It’s soothing. And intimate. And Rey isn’t used to it. 

Muscles tensing, she makes to pull back.

But Ben isn’t letting her. He can practically feel the hesitance and anxiety rolling off of her. He wants to comfort her. And protect her.

But first, he opts for flashing her a wide grin. “So, you’ve got a thing for marshmallows, huh?” Jerking his thumb backwards over the couch, he motions to the half-opened bag laying on the kitchen counter. 

This snaps Rey’s head up with a wide smile. 

“Seriously, Ben?  _ That’s  _ what you want to know?” 

He laughs. A deep throaty laugh, that sends a fissure of pleasure and...comfort deep down into her gut. 

Squeezing her hands, he only says “yes” with a mischievously raised eyebrow. 

“Well, I’ve got a thing for  _ you _ , that’s for sure.”

“You’re avoiding my question!”

Rey returns his mischievous smirk with an impish grin of her own. “But that’s its own kind of answer, isn’t it?”

“Are you going into engineering? Or Law? Because that was one slippery evasion, Miss Jackson.”

Rey had assumed the thrill it sends down her spine every time Ben called her Miss Jackson wouldn’t continue. Oh, but it does.

“Ben…” she cooes. 

“Sorry, sweetheart. Tell me about marshmallows. I genuinely want — no, need — to know. It’s actually…” One hand leaves hers to scratch anxiously at the back of his neck. “It might actually be related to what I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh, gods! You’re allergic, aren’t you? Luke mentioned all the things I’d need to know about the owner of the apartment. But he never mentioned that!”

Laughing softly, he rushes to assure her that’s not it. And then turns suddenly serious again as he grabs for her other hand once more. “Rey, what do you know about your family?”

“Wow. We’re just jumping right into the deep end here, aren’t we.” Rey huffs out a nervous little laugh.

But she’s saved from answering by the shrill ring of Ben’s phone. 

“Hold that thought. It might be The Gen — my mom. And I’ve got to take it.”

Her eyebrows quirk up in response. 

“I’ll explain why after. Just give me one minute.” He presses a quick peck to the top of her head before bounding up off the couch. 

Darting over to the kitchen counter where he’d plugged his phone in to charge, he snatches it up to answer before the last ring. “Hello. Hi. Hi Mom, I’m here.”

“Son! You didn’t call to let me know you made it back into town. I started to worry. Have you been able to contact Rey yet?”    
  
Rey sits on the couch uncomfortably aware that the sound of Ben’s mother’s voice is loud enough to project all the way over to her. Without being on speaker. She’s not sure what to think about that.

But she’s not given enough time to as she notes the tips of Ben’s ears poking out from between his luscious dark locks turning progressively redder.  _ Well, that’s adorable! _

Ben catches her eyes, and if possible, flushes even further. Turning from her, he lowers his voice as he replies. “Um, well, yes. But, no.”

“What does  _ that  _ mean?” Rey hears from the other side of the room. Chucking to herself now, as clearly Ben’s mother is some kind of character, she pretends to pick at her cuticles. Make no mistake, her ears are straining as far forward as they can possibly go while still attached to her head.

“It means that yes, I’ve made contact. But, also no, I haven’t had a chance to...” He clears his throat and lowers his voice even further. “I haven’t had a chance to discuss  _ those particular things  _ with her yet.”

“Well what in the hell have you been talking about then, so —” His mother’s sentence stops mid-word as it appears she’s had a realization. “Ohhh. Alright then. Just like your father. Shoots first and asks questions later.” Rey hears her chuckle.

“Mom! Gods...okay, I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you when I have something  _ share-worthy _ to tell you about. I love you.  _ Goodbye now _ !” And Ben punches the end call button before she can get another word in.

Eyeing him with one arched brow, Rey can’t help but giggle at his sheepish expression. Covering her mouth with her hand, she tries unsuccessfully to muffle the sound.

Ben vaults over the back of the couch and lands with a thud on his ass in front of her. “Where were we?”

Rey is flat out guffawing now. He shares the moment and laughs with her. 

And then lets his laughter trail off as he inhales deeply. Ben’s face shifts from laughing to intently staring as he grabs for Rey’s hands. “Sweetheart, will you tell me about your family?”

Sheepishly peering at him through her eyelashes, she worries how she answers next might make him run as far away from her as possible. Not wanting him to see her as needy, she takes a minute to choose her words carefully. 

Watching her face, Ben becomes concerned that she’s going to clam up completely. Dipping his head down to catch her eyes he coaxes her, “Rey, hey. It’s okay. You’re in a safe space here, with me. Anything you feel comfortable sharing, I want to hear.” 

His soft invitation and the warmth of his gaze encourages her to trust him with her story. Because, really, no one has cared enough to even ask before. Finn and Rose lived it with her. 

But Ben...he shows her, yet again, that she matters to him. With his touch, with his eyes, and even his ever-listening ears. It floods her with a warmth she’s not used to. The unfamiliar feeling of being chosen and cared about.

“I guess,” she starts. “I guess I’ve become accustomed to not feeling like I matter because no one ever…” She can’t seem to push the words that she’s held so close to her heart - the secret ones that make her heart squeeze in pain and fear anytime she thinks them - she can’t seem to get them out past her lips. 

Stroking her arm, Ben gently encourages her to keep going.

In truth, Rey is gathering her courage to continue on. She feels safe. And seen. But she’s fighting more than a decade and a half worth of feelings of inadequacy. And those feelings are hard to shake.

“No one has ever chosen me. Sometimes it makes me feel like I don’t matter because no one’s ever validated my existence.” And then, looking down and so softly uttered that Ben nearly misses it, she adds, “Until now - until you.”

It’s not until Ben lifts her chin to catch her gaze that she starts to feel the anxiety of what she’s just shared lessen.

“Rey, sweetheart, you’re worthy simply because you exist. You don’t have to ‘do’ anything to make it more true. You may feel like nothing. But you’re not nothing. Not to me.”

Chewing her bottom lip, she looks back down at her hands twisting in her lap. His words have reached into little Rey’s heart and given her a hope she didn’t know just how desperately she needed. 

And wanted. But had never let herself admit to wanting, before now.

So she basks in his words for a moment and says nothing in response. 

Ben eyes her with a slight furrow in his brow. Even though he’s usually one that’s happy to stay silent and grumpy, the urge to jump in and save Rey from any unpleasant feelings is strong. So strong that he blurts out, “So, how ‘bout we start with marshmallows, then?”

A bark of laughter escapes Rey’s mouth. And that’s all the further encouragement she needs to begin sharing the bigger parts of her past. 

Ben listens as she recounts being dropped off in front of a hospital when she was five and just never being claimed again. Not by a single one of the many foster families she’d been placed with over the years, or in the group home run by the nasty Unkar Plutt. 

Pausing briefly at the age where an over-eager foster parent signed her up to be a participant in the marshmallow study, she explains how desperate she was to just eat her fill of them. 

The foster family at the time was her first and worst. They loved to appear like the good upstanding family who did all the right things. But behind closed doors, she was denied food unless she did more chores than any five year old should have to do. And even then, she was sometimes still forgotten as they tended to their “real” children.

“And, well, I developed kind of a thing for them. Rose calls it an obsession. But, honestly, she’s my enabler, as she makes sure I’m never without a bag.” She huffs a laugh at this admission.

“I knew it!” Ben harshly whispers under his breath. 

His vehemence...it startles Rey. 

“What?”

Instead of answering her, he starts peppering her with some oddly specific follow up questions about the day of the study. Like: did she have any interactions that she can remember with the people conducting the study? Had she ever met any of them before? Did any of them try to contact her again after that day?

Each question is fired off in rapid succession until Rey’s head becomes dizzy with his words. 

“Ben, what is going on? Why…”

“Listen, Rey, what I’m about to tell you is…” At this, Ben stops speaking to run a hand distractedly through his hair. 

Rey is mesmerized by the action.  _ Damn, he has the silkiest, softest hair. Unfair! _

Cocking his head to the side, he takes a deep inhale through his nose before resuming.

“What I need to tell you is going to sound fake. Like,  _ woowoo _ -there is no statistically possible way this can have happened-kind of fake. Like, higher plane coincidental, next level—”

Putting up a hand to stop him mid-sentence, she lets him know she gets the gist. She finds herself impatient to hear whatever is about to come out of his mouth next.

Ben proceeds to tell Rey how she has felt so familiar to him but he didn’t understand why. And then, he tells her all about Snoke, who he is — or was — to him. And, more importantly, now, what Snoke has been forcing him to attempt to do with the Marshmallow study. 

“The very same study that  _ you  _ were a participant in, Rey.” He studies her face for her reaction, ready for any emotion he might find there. So far, she just appears to be taking it all in.

“Wow, okay. Wow. I…”

“Rey, there’s more. And this is the part I need you to know you’re not alone in. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to sort this out, together.” He cups her cheek and smiles warmly at her before continuing. “That phone call with The Gen — my mom just now? Alllll about this.” Ben gestures between them to further his point.

Cheeks turning crimson, she misunderstands.

“No no! Not  _ this  _ as in, us. This, as in what I’m about to tell you.”

Ben gulps in a breath and begins again. He starts with how Snoke’s been holding his PhD over his head, how Ben recently discovered that there were rumors of underhanded techniques and data manipulation around the study and other studies. After briefly mentioning his mom hiring a private investigator to verify what they had discovered thus far, he stops. 

“How're you doing over there? Need a minute? A marshmallow, maybe?” A half-hearted chuckle escaped his lips. While he doesn’t want to overwhelm Rey, he knows that time is ticking. She needs to know all of what he and Leia know. 

And now. 

Her being in  _ his  _ specific apartment will be too good of an opportunity for Snoke to pass up if he thinks it will allow him to coerce Ben even further in his plot to continue to validate the old study.

_ But why does it need to be validated? This is the question that still doesn’t have an answer. They’re missing something. What are they missing? _

Ben is pulled from his pondering by Rey’s small hands grabbing his. 

“I’m going to pass on the marshmallows. And I hate Snoke already, for you, because he sounds like a hideous human. But what haven’t you told me yet?”

So smart, his little marshmallow girl. 

“The man who originated the marshmallow experiment back in the 60’s — well, one of them — was my grandfather.”

Rey quickly draws a hand to her mouth as she gasps. Ben was right, the coincidences are crazy. 

“But, Rey… the other creator of the study? Well, he was  _ your  _ grandfather.”

Her eyes go wide. She pulls her other hand from his grasp to bring it to her face, too.

“I...wait. What? I don’t have any living relatives. Or, I didn’t think I did.” 

Shock crosses her face as some of the color drains from it. He reaches for her hands, so small in his, and squeezes them tenderly. 

But then, Ben watches as her shoulders slump and a tear leaks out the corner of one of her eyes. “I guess… I guess what I really should have said is that I didn’t have any relatives who wanted me enough to claim me. Apparently.” Tucking her chin to her chest, she tries to stifle the sob rising up in her throat. A steady stream of tears escape and begin falling down her cheeks. 

Ben grits his teeth against the rage bubbling in his chest over someone discarding Rey the way she’s been passed over again and again. He can’t bear to see her in such anguish. Disentangling their hands, he reaches out to cradle her face and starts swiping away each tear as it falls.

“Rey. Oh, no. Rey…” he murmurs to her as he scoots his body as close to hers on the couch as he can. Wrapping his arms around her back, he pulls her into his chest and lets her cry it out. 

Agonizing minutes go by while Ben gives Rey the space and time she needs. He’ll sit here all damn day and night if she needs it! He doesn’t let go of her, though. He  _ needs _ her to know he’s not going to leave her to deal with any of this by herself.

When her sobs finally seem like they are starting to subside, she looks up at him with tear-stained cheeks. Between staggered breaths, she asks, “Do you think he…” Looking away, she looks like she’s valiantly trying to rein in tears threatening to escape all over again. “Do you know, Ben, if he knew? If he knew about me?”

Gods! And the way she’s now looking back up at him as if his answer will take even a little of this hurt from her. This is the question Ben’s been dreading the most. 

He knows, of course. From all they’ve been able to dig up on him, Palpatine is a grade-A asshole who is as underhanded as he is egotistical. All words he can’t imagine associating with Rey in any way.

But, there have been enough lies. He’s damn sure not starting this relationship with one.

“We suspect he found out around the time the study results were published and being applauded - and refused to let his connection to you sully the results of his new-found accolades.” Derision laces his words.

Rey scrunches up her nose as she lets this newest information settle. 

Ben knows it’s not the time for this thought, but when is this woman  _ not  _ going to be adorable? When? Even with her reddened nose dripping with snot and her puffy eyes, he wants to kiss every inch of her face.

Dragging the sleeve of his sweatshirt under that cute little nose of hers, she narrows her eyes and fixes him with a hard stare. Ben’s not sure whether to be scared of her sudden shift in demeanor or appalled that she just wiped her snot with his sweatshirt.

“So, you’re telling me that he — my  _ grandfather  _ — chose recognition in his field over his own flesh and blood. Over giving a child a home and a family. Right? That’s what you’re telling me.” 

The heartbreak in her voice is unmistakable. It tears Ben apart. He knew what he has to do, but he doesn’t know if he has the strength to do it. She deserves an honest answer. He knows she already knows the answer anyway. But he just…

“Ben? That’s my only living relative. Someone who would leave me to fend for myself, as a young child, so he could get applause and fame in his field.” She delivers this last with such a forlorn tone that he almost can’t stand it.

Hanging his head against the weight of truth, he softly confirms her own words. “Yes.”

Somehow, he is able to stem the slew of expletives and harsh thoughts he has about Palpatine from spewing out of his mouth. But only just. He watches her face. And waits. She deserves as much time as she needs. And he’ll walk with her through every ste—

“Well, SCREW HIM! Him and his shriveled up nasty-ass heart. I don’t need or want to have anything to do with that man! How can I be related to someone so heartless? And cruel? Fuck! Him!”

Ben’s mouth hangs open in a little oval. He wasn’t...he wasn’t expecting this response. But really, why wouldn’t he? She’s so feisty. And he loves this very thing about her. Of course, Rey is hopping mad! He wants to hop with her, but he needs her to understand how important it is to hold off just a little longer on any actions resulting from these feelings. 

These perfectly valid feelings. That he shares.

The General made it clear they needed more time to make this case airtight against Palpatine. And Snoke and Pryde, for that matter. 

And he has plenty of ideas for what they can do while they wait it out.

But first, one last piece of business.

“Rey, sweetheart…” and Ben files away her reaction to the endearment, “fuck  _ me  _ instead. Okay?” 

This. This brings a smile to her face. And he loves it. Maybe not so much what she follows it up with, though.

She gives her head a shake and chuckles. “Oh, gods! That was the cringiest Dad Joke, Ben. Please. Never again _.”  _

Giving her a wry smile, he agrees. “Deal. But, seriously, Rey — we have to lay low while we get everything we need to make Palpatine, and his cronies, pay.  _ That’s  _ what my mom was referring to on the phone just now.” 

Distracted by his lips as they form words, she only nods.

Picking her hands back up, Ben softly strokes the insides of her wrists with his thumbs. “Sooo, we need to stay occupied. Maybe go through a couple of bags of marshmallows? And…” He lets his words trail off as he darts his eyes over toward the direction of the bedroom.

At his insinuation, she smirks. “Oh, Professor Solo, I like the way you think.”

_ Business concluded. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Brain: I'm proud of you kid. You didn't veer off into smut mid-chapter like I thought for sure you would._
> 
> Me: You forced me to stay on track.
> 
> _Brain: You can get into it again for the finale`. Deal?_
> 
> Me: I don't negotiate with-
> 
> _Brain: Go eat some marshmallows._


	9. Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They both get all the letters they hoped for. And a few numbers, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, cats and dogs. The finale: the fluffiest fluff and smuttiest smut that could ever live side by side. I cannot tell you how every one of your comments thrills me! Every notification of a new one in my inbox is like...a whole mug full of marshmallows, to me. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this story. If you haven't hit the kudos button yet, I'd surely appreciate it if you would. And if you already have? Thank you 3,000!

Lying next to a dozing Rey in his bed, Ben idly strokes her silky hair. _Has she been using my conditioner?_ After their talk, Ben had scooped Rey up, bridal style, and carried her to his bedroom. Both of them landed in an emotionally exhausted heap upon the mattress. With two pairs of very heavy eyes, they’ve agreed that anything more exciting than cuddling up for a nap would have to wait. 

Pulling at the thread of historical significance of the study, again, Ben’s sure that something is there. Something powerful that he thinks could unravel every one of Snoke’s underhanded efforts to force him to validate this study. If he could just figure out where it starts.

Almost as soon as he thinks it, that constant nagging worry creeps back to the forefront of his mind. _Please don’t let it have anything to do with my grandfather!_

Soon enough, exhaustion overtakes him and Ben’s eyelids flutter closed, arms securely wrapped around Rey’s sleeping form next to him.

Rey startles awake at the unfamiliar feeling of heaviness across her belly. Blinking sleep from her eyes, she notices daylight still peeking through the curtains. And then, the source of the weight. Mouth slightly parted and breathing evenly, is Ben. With his arm slanted heavily across her stomach.

Taking advantage of his obliviousness, she lets her eyes travel from the sweep of his soft dark locks falling across his forehead in sleep, to the various moles dotting his face. Resisting the urge to reach out and touch each one, she contents herself with counting them instead. As she gets to his lips, _and damn those plush lips of his_ , she finds her own curling into a smile at the memory of them locked onto hers.

This guy.

He really is the total package for Rey. _And what a package it is!_ She snorts softly to herself. 

Thoughts taking a more serious turn, she thinks back on their earlier conversation. His care and concern for her comfort—emotional _and_ physical—clearly outweighed even his obvious desire to bring her pleasure and happiness. The realization that he would jeopardize his Ph.D., _for her_ , sinks in. And leaves her feeling grateful and overwhelmed; but also something else which she dare not put a name to quite yet. 

Rey lets all that she’s been told churn in her mind. It’s staggering, really, how many life-altering pieces of information she took in. Knowing she has family, but how horrid that “family” is—that’s something she’s going to need help sorting through. Once again, she considers Rosie, Luke, and now, even Ben's suggestion to seek counseling.

Getting no further with that thought, she turns her gaze back to her sleeping partner only to find his eyes open and on her. Pink floods her face at being caught so obviously attempting to ogle him. 

But Ben just takes the opportunity to make her feel warm and wanted. Pulling her closer to his side, he drops a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Hey there.”

“Hi, Professor Solo.” 

Swiping one of his big bear paws down his face he groans but squeezes her waist with his other hand. “You’re going to be the death of me with that name, Rey.”

“I certainly hope not, Sir. I have plans.” Rey needs more time to digest what they discussed. And she knows just how to pass it, thankyouverymuch. She didn’t wait all this time to get that D only to let go of any and every opportunity to do so. No sir. 

Rey doesn’t waste _anything!_ Definitely not time.

Swinging her thigh across both of his, she hoists herself up to straddle him low on his waist. Wiggling above him, she closes her hands around his massive shoulders and lowers her lips to claim his in a slow wet kiss. Stroking his tongue with her own, she slips her hand into his soft hair and gives it a small tug while she cants her hips against his groin. Moaning into the kiss, Ben angles his hips to grind up into her clothed cunt. 

She starts planting featherlight open-mouthed kisses under his jaw and down his neck. Ben sighs and grips her hips as her kisses descend. As her tongue swirls around each nipple, flicking the tip, he finds himself arching up, caught unaware that he likes that as much as he very obviously does. 

But, it’s as her hot wet mouth gets to his happy trail that he realizes her intention. Before she can get any further down his body, he coaxes her hips to the side and pulls them back toward his face, until her center is above his mouth, knees planted on either side of his head. 

Finding her mouth hovering over _exactly_ what she had hoped for, Rey smirks before licking a hot stripe down the hardening length of Ben’s cock through his boxers. “I really do like the way you think, Professor Solo.”

Ben’s hips buck up toward Rey’s mouth in answer as he groans into her cunt. 

“Off with these, please,” Rey demands, pulling the elastic band of his briefs down suddenly. Yanking them down far enough to get at his now throbbing member, she kisses the weeping slit and licks at the bead of precum already there. 

“Yes. Fuck! Please,” come out in breathy rapid succession as Rey begins trailing her tongue along the ridge at the underside of his shaft.

The cooler air of the room hits Rey’s cunt as Ben hooks his thumb into the gusset of her panties and tugs it aside, not even having the patience to pull them off completely. “Need to taste you now, Miss Jackson.”

And this. _This_ is how Rey is gonna die. Because it feels so good she’s going to lose her mind. Ben starts lapping with the hard broad flat of his tongue from hole to clit, and she moans around the head of Ben’s cock, as she swirls her tongue around it. 

Bobbing her head down little agonizing inches at a time until she has taken him as far down her throat as she can at this angle above him, she wraps her hand around the base to let no part of his cock remain untouched in some way by her, using her other hand to stroke the sensitive area just behind his balls. Ben moans long and loud. 

“Fuck! Rey... I’m gonna come sooner than I want to. Please, I want you to come with me.” His words are strained just about as hard as his hips keep straining toward the back of her throat. 

“Two! Put two fingers inside me, Ben. Curl the—” But Rey doesn’t finish her words because Ben didn’t get almost to a PhD without being a quick learner. And he is highly motivated to learn exactly what gets Rey Jackson off. Quickening the pace of his mouth’s attention on her clit, he hardens the tip of his tongue and flicks back and forth across it until Rey is moaning and rocking her hips above him.

Their bodies sway and buck as they continue their frenzied ministrations upon one another with less and less finesse. 

Ben’s sinfully perfect lips leave Rey’s cunt long enough to grunt, “I’m gonna come,” just as Rey fondles his balls with one last gentle squeeze to eke out “Ben, fuck! I’m coming.”

Closing her mouth back around his tip and hollowing her cheeks, Ben empties himself with short successive jerks into her mouth. Swallowing him down is difficult only because Ben’s tongue has latched onto her clit as he continued to rub her inner walls like a demon-possessed. She feels herself clenching down on his fingers as her clit throbs and her orgasm pulses through her body.

Letting dribbles of his cum escape the sides of her mouth, she rests the side of her cheek against his thigh as she pants from the exertion. When her heart rate seems to slow down slightly, she collapses over to the side of Ben’s body, legs still twitching a bit. “Gimme a minute.” Rey huffs out. 

“I’m gonna need more than a minute,” Ben replies.

Laying next to each other, letting their breathing come back to some semblance of normal, Rey starts giggling.

“What? What’s so funny?” Ben props himself up on his elbows and peers down at Rey. He takes in the flush still evident across her chest, and the rosy tips of her nipples, and then the dimples that have made their appearance on her face. He finds himself smiling from ear to ear at the sight.

“Did you just...did you just give me a 69, Professor Solo? Do I need to contest this grade?”

Flopping back against the mattress with a gusty sigh, Ben can only laugh with her.

“Yep. Gonna be the death of me.”

  
  
  


**5 Months Later**

  
  
  


Ben’s been mulling over how he can right the wrongs from the original Marshmallow study. Knowing his Ph.D. isn’t hanging in the balance anymore—Holdo made sure of that— Ben has found himself able to think more clearly about the mismanaged data and validity concepts of his grandfather’s experiment. But he still can’t get to a satisfying output.

His thoughts are interrupted when he hears the light knock at his office door. Feeling confident that it wouldn’t possibly be Snoke, he calls out, “Come on in.” 

It’s definitely not Snoke.

Glossy auburn hair frames the sweetest freckled face with the widest toothy grin. Rey, his marshmallow girl, strolls in. 

Smirking, she asks, “Is now an okay time to stop by and say hi to my very most favorite Professor?” 

This snaps Ben out of his contemplation and back to reality. Which is the unforgiving metal chair of his TA office. An office that barely contains his desk, his chair, and his lumbering frame. To say nothing of how cloistered it now feels with Rey standing in the middle of it too.

His breathing picks up as a vision of her bent over his desk and spread wide for him pops into his head. He feels himself hardening in his pants as he stands up to greet her. 

Crossing the few short steps to where he stands, Rey fists the front of his button-down and leans up on tiptoes to kiss him. And she’s not going for a chaste kiss. Sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips, Ben opens and starts licking into her mouth. Her chest begins rising and falling faster and he startles, realizing exactly where they are at the moment. 

Inky waves move as he gives his head a quick shake. “Rey, we can’t. Not here. I hate it, but you know we can’t risk this. We are so close to seeing this through.”

Dropping her forehead down to his chest, she loosens her grip on his shirt as she sighs her displeasure. 

“I know. And let the record state that I _do hate it_. I should be able to make out with my hot professor boyfriend wherever I want.” She shapes her lips into a petulant little pout and he can’t help but give them a quick peck before he takes a steadying step back away from her. 

_Distance. Distance is good,_ he tells himself. 

Because as much as he wants to bend his Rey over the desk behind him and fuck her right over those damned tapes he’d been forced to watch, he needs to get her out of here before Snoke or Pryde see her.

“We can do this, sweetheart. We can! Only a few more weeks to go.” He’s still within touching distance, and unable to help himself, he reaches out to lay his huge hand on her shoulder, stroking her collarbone with his thumb.

“I know. But Ben, I want to say again how much-”

“-you hate it. I know. I hate it too. But, you’re not alone.” He leans down and tilts her chin up with his index finger and repeats it. “Rey, you’re not alone. We’re doing this together.”

The corners of her mouth tug upwards. “Neither are you, Professor Solo.” And then more softly, “And, thank you.”

“Yeah. You’re gonna kill me.” He smiles at her fondly despite the statement.

Turning on her heels, she smirks at him as she looks back over her shoulder, hand already on the doorknob. “But you love it.”

Chuckling, he says, “No, I love _you_ **_”_ ** _._

“I know.” And she strolls out the door.

  
  
  


****

  
  


It hits Ben as he’s administering his Statistics 101 final that afternoon. Keeping one eye on the remaining 2nd-semester students, he’s replaying his earlier kiss with Rey in his mind while sitting at his desk. It faintly registers that he needs to skip the memory reel past his thoughts about her splayed over his desk or he’s going to end up with an erection in the lecture hall.

Rey was going to be his destiny all along. It’s just an indisputable fact. He takes a deep breath in, along with the realization, before exhaling loudly enough to draw the attention of a couple of students in the front. 

“Sorry.” He puts his hand up in acknowledgment that he had disturbed their attempts to recall validation techniques. 

Suddenly, Ben sits up ramrod straight in his chair. 

And he realizes that he doesn’t need to validate or invalidate the study, but simply show how poverty is not destiny. Rey is proof of that! His marshmallow girl didn’t need to prove she could delay her gratification to prove that she was capable of achieving success. She already had. 

And she came from nothing. Was nothing.

But not to him. 

No. Rey Jackson is _everything_ to him. And he wants to tell her. _Needs_ to. 

But first, he has to text The General and let her know his thoughts. They had agreed before parting last time to run whatever their next moves would be by each other so that there were no mistakes. Leia had made it damn clear that their case against Snoke, Pryde, and Palpatine had to be iron-clad. No loopholes any of them could find to jump through and disappear before they got a chance at justice.

An idea begins to form regarding how Ben could look up other previous participants and create a new extension experiment quantifying this thought. It could work! And he’d take the focus off of the originators and create a new legacy for the original experiment.

Practically vibrating with the possibilities, Ben begins to write down a brief explanation of his idea in a text to Leia. He hits send and writes down a few more parameters for this new experiment while his brain is still fired up. And before he knows it, students start filing up to his desk and placing their exams on it before leaving. 

Gathering the exams and his own hastily scribbled notes, he stuffs it all in his messenger bag and starts making his way to the doors to exit. Pulling out his phone to call The General, he sees she’s read the text.  
  


“CALL ME!” is her reply, with clapping hands for emphasis. The General had become adept at using emojis since spending time getting to know Rey. He chuckles at the recent memory of them, heads bent at his kitchen table, as Rey explained how to find and insert a gif into a text message. He’d only sighed deeply and left them to it. 

But it warmed his heart to see how quickly Leia took to Rey—” She’s feisty. And you _know_ I like feisty!”— more and more with each time they were able to spend time with her.  
  


Rey felt like she gained a mother figure in The General. And once she learned that Luke and Leia were twins, her mind was blown all over again. 

Only a month ago, the investigator stumbled onto a smoking gun in their case against Palpatine. Leia and her brother had shared tears and fury over the discovery that Anakin Skywalker had been blackmailed into taking the fall for the unethical behavior and corruption surrounding the original Marshmallow experiment in the ’60s. And that likely, it was what had pushed him over the edge and to walk away from his young family.

It was then that Rey had outright asked Rosie to go with her to the student health center and make an appointment to start seeing a counselor. This was all a lot! And Rey couldn’t continue to pretend that her own abandonment issues and all of the negativity that being Sheev Palpatine’s granddaughter was bringing into her life became too much to try to handle by herself. 

Driven to be the best version of Rey that she could be, not only because Ben made her want to be, but also because Rosie and Finn, and now Luke and Leia, all showed her that it was okay to need help. And to ask for it. She finally felt safe enough to do just that.

Walking into her first appointment with Dr. Pava proved to be one of the best decisions she ever made. 

Next to getting into that Lyft ride with Ben all those months ago. 

  
  


**One Month Later**

  
  


Disclosing his relationship with Rey and receiving his Doctorate were two of the best days of Ben’s life, so far. 

He couldn’t actually believe this was his life, to be honest. 

Snoke and Pryde had both been stripped of their accolades and banned from academia, thank the Maker! After successfully turning on each other, Leia and Ben were able to watch with great satisfaction as they were disgraced in much the same way his grandfather had been fifty years earlier. 

And while he’d never wish death on anyone, Palpatine’s heart attack last month left both him and Rey feeling relieved. Dr. Pava had even invited both of them to a session where they were able to start untangling the complicated emotions around his death. It had been a healthy start to some much-needed healing and closure. Surprisingly, for both of them. 

All that was left to do involved one stealthy trip to the grocery store for a big bag of marshmallows, one discreet handoff of Nana Padme’s ring from The General, and the help of Rose, Finn, and Maz.

  
  
  


****

  
  


Using the best acting skills of his life, Ben feigns surprise as Rey and Rose step through the front door of his—well...now, their— apartment. “Hi, sweetheart! What are you doing home so early?”

“Maz sent me home early. Said there wasn’t enough business to justify me ‘being without my man’. For all her tough exterior, she is such a romantic.” Rey chuckles. 

Rose interjects, as planned, “And I just happened to stop by to pick up my to-go order so I offered to bring her home so she didn’t have to catch the bus.”

Rey is so happy to see Ben with his glasses on and socked feet up on the coffee table. He always makes her feel like “home”. 

He puts his laptop aside on the couch and stands up to come greet her with a chaste kiss. Rose likes to poke fun and he needs to keep things moving along before he loses his nerve.

After dropping a soft kiss on her lips, Ben’s eyes crinkle as he smiles mischievously at Rose over the top of Rey’s head. “That worked out perfectly, didn’t it? Thanks for bringing our girl home, Rose.”

Rose gives Ben an exaggerated wink as she pulls her phone from her back pocket, her own ring sparkling on her finger. She fiddles with the screen and then gives him a thumbs-up behind Rey’s back.

“Rose, you wanna stay and have a cup of hot cocoa with us before you go? The water’s still probably hot from my tea a few minutes ago.”

Rose smirks at him as she links arms with Rey. “I never pass up an opportunity for cocoa. But, I think we’ll let Rey dole out the marshmallows. She’ll insist anyway.” and she can’t resist nudging Rey in the ribs with her elbow as she says it. 

“Perfect.” Ben turns from them both to hide his smile. “I bought a brand new bag, actually. They’re in the pantry, Sweetheart.”

Rey’s cheeks color that pretty shade of pink Ben loves as she lets the pet name wash over her. _It will never get old watching her reaction,_ Ben thinks.

He makes his way back over to the couch to shut down his laptop. He’s hoping it’ll be a while before he needs to open it again. He takes his time while he hears Rey pulling down mugs for the three of them.

“You’re going to steal my Galaxy Wars mug again, aren’t you.” He tries to sound annoyed, but can’t help the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

“You know I can take whatever I want,” she spits back out at him, but without any malice.

They laugh and Rose rolls her eyes at the pair of them.

“You two dorks really are a match made in the galaxy.” 

Rey finds the new bag of marshmallows with no problem and hands Rose three packets of cocoa to pour into the mugs. Like a well-oiled little assembly line, Ben follows behind pouring the hot water in as Rey stirs. 

“Time for your favorite part,” Ben says as he gives Rey a dimpled smile.

She tears into the bag and reaches in to grab a generous handful to dump into the first mug. Then repeats her actions for the second. But when she goes in to grab the third handful, her eyebrows scrunch up in confusion.

Face mirroring hers, Ben pretends to be concerned. “What? What’s wrong?”

Rey peers down into the bag where her fingers have touched something hard and bumpy. Definitely _not_ a marshmallow. When her fingers connect with it, her face contorts from confusion to shock. Turning around to look at Ben, she finds him on one bended knee next to her. 

“Rey, what do you have there? Can you confirm your findings for me?” Eyes twinkling, he sees her start to put it all together and her own eyes start to glisten. 

Pulling the sparkling vintage filigree ring out of the marshmallow bag, she holds it tightly in between her fingers. “Ben?”  
  


Completely focused on him kneeling before her, Rey is unaware that Rose has backed away, but is videoing the whole encounter.

Grabbing one hand to clasp it between both of his, Ben begins to ask the most important question of his life. “Rey, the day you walked into my statistics class, I started forming a hypothesis about you. Do you want to know what it was?”  
  


Rey can only nod, too stunned to speak.

“I hypothesized that you were really something.” 

  
Her eyebrows shoot up.

“But what my findings have confirmed is that you aren’t something. No. Rey, to me, you are _everything._ ”

Ben’s eyes take on the sheen of unshed tears. Throat thick with emotion, he continues. 

“Rey, will you be my everything, _forever_?”

Her head had started nodding up and down vigorously before he even got the question fully out of his mouth. 

Rose stage-whispered from off to the side, “Say yes!”

“Y—yes? Yes! YES!” She gets down on her own knees at this last yes to crash her lips into Ben’s and practically choke him to death with her arms flung around the back of his neck.

“Rey,” he whispers. “Can I put the ring on your finger now?”

More relieved that she’s let go of her chokehold at the moment, he takes a big breath and plucks the ring from her. Slipping it onto her fourth finger, he sighs at the perfect fit. He looked back at Rose and mouthed _thank you_ before turning back to Rey. 

She’s staring at the ring, mesmerized by the intricate patterns woven around it. 

“It was my Nana Padme’s. Do you like it?”

“No,” she says absentmindedly as she continues to marvel at the jewelry on her finger. She never would have believed she could enjoy seeing her finger adorned this way. But Ben…

Looking up at him, finally, she sees his crestfallen expression and realizes she never finished her thought.

“No, I don’t like it. I LOVE IT... And Ben?”  
  


His beaming smile aimed right at her knocks the wind out of her lungs a little bit. He is so damned gorgeous when he smiles. 

“I’d like to validate that you are _everything_ to me, too.”

Nuzzling his forehead to hers, he quips, “Yep. Star student, Miss Jackson.”

“Soon to be Mrs. Solo to you.”

Sensing the shift in atmosphere to one she wants no part of, thank you, Rose clears her throat. They both whip their heads up, finally remembering her presence. Standing and then offering her his hand to help her up, Ben and Rey turn to Rose.

“Congratulations, you two. I’m…” Rose wipes away a stray tear. “I’m so fucking excited for you Reybaby. You’ve got a good boi there.” She reaches for Rey in a fierce Rosie hug. 

Turning to Ben, she softens her voice and puts a reassuring hand upon his shoulder. “You did good kid. I’ll send this off to everyone when I get in the car.” She goes to slide the phone in her back pocket again before adding, “But if this goes where it went when Hux asked me? This is my cue to exit stage left.” Snorting, she quickly moves toward the front door before waving her fingers at them in goodbye.

“I take it everyone is…” Rey trails off letting Ben confirm.

“Yep. Leia, Luke, Finn and Poe. Hey, Rey? Go turn off your ringer. We have some celebrating to do.” He waggles his eyebrows at her.

“Oh, I do like the way you think, Professor Solo.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Brain: Well, kid, you did it. You managed to get some smut in there at the end, after all._
> 
> Me: Why, yes. Yes I did, didn't I? And I only had to go through half a bag of marshmallows to do it!
> 
> _Brain: Maybe slow down on those, kay? Sugar-_
> 
> Me: -crosses the blood brain barrier and makes my neurons fire faster. They help. OKAY?!?
> 
> _Brain: There's no talking sense to you, is there?_
> 
> Me: Nope. Go eat some marshmallows.


End file.
